
Class __BX^^ 

Book„ p^b- 

GofpghtN 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 



Lessons for 
Seekers of Holiness 



Containing numerous quotations from Wesley, 

Fletcher, and other standard authors, and 

designed to aid such as are groaning 

after purity of heart in entering 

upon the experience 



By 
HARMON A. BALDWIN 



Introduction by 
REV. JOHN S. M'GEARY 



CHICAGO 
S. K. J. CHESBRO 

14 N. MAY STREET 
I907 



2f1 






.$*& 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 
MAY 11 190f 

Copyright Entry 
(Ma, ^ *-,'?'/ 
?LASS /{ XXc, No; 

/ lc (o vjrG 7 

COPY B. / 



Copyright, 1907 
HARMON A. BALDWIN 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTXS. PAGMB. 

Contents - ' - - r • : ,. - iii 

Intboduction - - - - v 

Pbefatoby Note -.- ix 

I. Oub Position - 1 

II. The Call, to Holiness - 5 

III. Definition - 10 

IV. Pbopeb and Impbopeb Candidates - 21 
V. Stbivings Within 28 

VI. Motives 35 

VII. HlNDBANCES --42 

VIII. Conviction - 54 

IX. Conviction — Concluded 61 

X. Confession 70 

XI. Confession — Concluded ------- 81 

XII. Miscellaneous -- 87 

XIII. Uses of Temptation - -92 

XIV. Abandonment ob Consecbation - 99 
XV. Faith 110 

XVI. Faith— Concluded 116 

XVII. The Witness of the Spibit 130 

XVIII. The Witness of Oub Own Spibits - 144 

XIX. Conflicts of the Entibely Sanctified ... 151 

XX. Causes of Vacillation ------ 177 



INTRODUCTION. 

Another book on the subject of entire sanctification? 
Yes ; and doubtless there will be many others. It will 
be many days before the last word shall have been written 
on this important subject. 

The theme of the book is the "Central Idea of Chris- 
tianity." Deliverance from sin and sinfulness is the very 
heart of the gospel message. It was the burden of pro- 
phetic message under the old dispensation ; it was the 
keynote in the message of the heavenly visitors who an- 
nounced the coming of the Lord ; it was the "chief corner- 
stone" of apostolic building as they laid the foundations 
of the Christian Church ; and it is still the theme which, 
above all others, when presented in the Spirit, is attended 
with the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost, and 
is effective in the salvation of men. 

A subject of such vast scope and importance, sustaining 
such a vital relation to the gospel of Christ and the wel- 
fare of his Church, cannot be exhausted. Hence there is 
room for another book. 

This book covers ground peculiarly its own. Most books 
written on this subject deal more or less with controver- 
sial questions. A glance over the outline as given in the 
table of contents will show that the experimental and 
practical phases of the subject are here emphasized rather 
than the doctrinal or controversial. Surely there is need 
of this. Volumes have been written to prove that entire 
sanctification is a second work of grace. So of other doc- 
trinal phases of the subject. But the great demand is that 
men shall be clearly shown their need of the experience 
by exhibiting the manifestations of carnality — the char- 



Vl INTRODUCTION 

acteristics of an unsanctified heart — and then that they be 
shown how they may attain and retain the experience of 
cleansing. 

These are the lines followed by the author. In the 
course of his experience as pastor and evangelist he has 
met many souls who have been troubled by erroneous con- 
ceptions of the experience ; others who have been deluded 
into believing that they had the experience when they 
had it not; others again who were in confusion as to the 
steps to be taken in order to obtain the experience. He 
has undertaken, so to speak, to blaze a track through the 
wilderness of false theories, erroneous teachings and 
wrong conceptions, a track which honest seekers after 
purity of heart may follow, and, in following, find their 
way to the Canaan of perfect love, which, having reached, 
they may hold against all their foes. Opinions will, of 
course, differ as to how well he has succeeded. 

The writer of this introduction has been acquainted 
with the author almost from the time of his conversion. 
He knows him as a man of pronounced individuality. 
This individuality naturally is apparent in the volume 
before us. The book, however, is not a mere transcript of 
personal experience ; it deals with fundamental principles, 
and the honest seeker after a clean heart who ponders its 
teachings and follows them will, it is believed, attain to 
the experience he seeks. 

Some of the author's statements may, at first glance, 
appear unduly strong, some of the tests applied un- 
duly severe. But do not set these aside hastily. Remem- 
ber that the Church is flooded with superficial teachings 
on these very subjects, and that thorough, and even heroic, 
measures are necessary to rouse men from the moral 
lethargy into which the depravity of their own hearts and 
these superficial teachings have lulled them. Superficial 
or spurious holiness is perhaps the greatest hindrance to 
the promotion of "true holiness" in our time. Is there 
not need that some one on this subject lay "judgment to 
the line and righteousness to the plummet"? We believe 



INTRODUCTION Vii 

our brother has sought only to do this. He who seeks 
counsel of this book will be led into no shallow or super- 
ficial experience. 

JOHN S. M'GEARY. 
Titusville, Pa. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

The author wishes hereby to acknowledge his indebted- 
ness to the Rev. John S. M'Geary, of Titusville, Pa., for 
kindly writing the Introduction to this little volume, and 
also for helpful advices given with regard to its prepara- 
tion ; to the Rev. Wilson T. Hogue, of Evanston, Illinois, 
for valuable aid rendered in preparing the matter for the 
press ; and to all who, by their sermons, prayers, testi- 
monies and counsels, in an earlier day helped to lead him 
to the fountain of cleansing and to ground him in "the 
principles of the doctrine of Christ" as to the privileges 
and possibilities of grace. And now with the prayer that 
these '"Lessons" may prove helpful to all who read them, 
and especially to honest inquirers after the way of full 
salvation, they are sent forth on their mission in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 

H. A. B. 

Rochester, Pa., February 11, 1907. 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 



CHAPTER I. 



OUE POSITION. 



Volume after volume has been written on the subject 
of holiness, until the ground has been pretty thoroughly 
canvassed. There is scarcely a phase of the subject that 
has not been criticized by its enemies and defended by its 
friends. It has been set before us as a desirable ex- 
perience, until our eyes could almost see the luscious fruits 
of the Canaan of Perfect love ; it has been defended as a 
biblical experience, until the Sacred Volume fairly sparkles 
with the gems of promise ; it has been taugnt as a possible 
experience, until a man must be spiritually blind that can- 
not see his high privilege; it has been taught as a present 
experience, until persons whose hearts are still unclean 
can almost feel their feet pressing the vine-clad hills of 
Canaan; Heaven and earth, the Bible, human nature, and 
even hell, have been ransacked for incentives to draw or 
drive men's sluggish souls to action. Some of the mighti- 
est intellects of earth have exhausted their resources in 
depicting the beauties, deliverances and possibilities of holi- 
ness. All this is good and necessary, but we take it for 
granted that the reader already accepts the doctrine, and 
so take up our task along another line. As some one has 
said, "Much has been written defining holiness, proving it 
to be scriptural and showing that it is desirable, but how 
to obtain the experience mortals desire to know." 

The writer firmly believes in the Wesleyan view of 



2 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

holiness as the most scriptural and the most reasonable. 
A great many of the modern theories are a compromise 
with worldliness. This is an age when mist and 
darkness are settling over the hearts and consciences of 
men, and "they will not endure sound doctrine." A3 
a consequence we see them professing holiness when they 
have not, as Fletcher says, "attained the candor of a con- 
scientious heathen ;" while manifesting unholy dispositions 
and tempers, and bringing into reproach the doctrine they 
so clamorously uphold. It makes no difference how loudly 
one may profess, if his life does not correspond with his 
profession, the world will call him a hypocrite. 

The chief occasion for this deficiency in grace is a lack 
of depth in seeking. Seekers skim over the surface, and 
call the first stirring of their emotions the experience ; 
and when the emotion subsides they find the same old 
trouble inside and are forced to one of two conclusions ; 
either they must call these feelings temptation, and ignore 
them, or else give up their profession. They are not made 
to thoroughly understand that holiness is not merely an 
emotion, but a deliverance from sin, not a feeling, but a 
state. 

Here is where Wesley is peculiarly clear in his teach- 
ings. He seldom, if ever, magnified the emotional, but held 
before the minds of his readers their deliverance from 
sin as that which they must obtain in order to be per- 
fected in love. He held steadily to the necessary char- 
acteristics of the experience, and discouraged the use of 
expressions that would lead away from this central idea ; 
while, on the contrary, a great many persons teach their 
own convictions, leadings, blessings and even notions, as 
a necessity for all. 

John Wesley and his great defender, the saintly John 
Fletcher, have taught us much about how to obtain the 
experience of holiness, but neither of them has taken it 
in hand to lay before us consecutively the steps necessary 
to be taken. Although these things are scattered through 
their works, yet they are not, for the most part, in order, 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 3 

and are mixed in with page after page of the most whole- 
some of teaching on the nature and possibility of holi- 
ness. We have thought that if these gems could be 
brought together in such a way as to fit them to the pe- 
culiar requirements of to-day they would be of use to not a 
few struggling, panting seekers after the fulness of God. 
This then is our reason for writing these pages — to be 
of help to souls who have heretofore been tossed by many 
conflicting winds of doctrine, desiring to anchor in the 
haven of rest, but who are as yet unable to do so on ac- 
count of their vague ideas of their own needs and priv- 
ileges. 

When God came to our own soul after years of strug- 
gling and fears and settled our heart in the bosom of his 
infinite grace, we cried, "O God, teach us the way to help 
others who are in the same condition." On our face be- 
fore God, with our heart burning with the desire to be of 
some use to these hungry ones, the conception of producing 
these pages was born. 

We have not attempted excellency of speech, since that 
would spoil the whole end we have in view ; we have not 
feigned learning or superior spiritual attainments ; but as 
a plain Christian we believed God had given us a message, 
and in the simplest manner possible we have delivered it. 
And throughout we have aimed to be practical. If 
you think our words at times are too plain, remember 
we had a message, and were so thoroughly taken with 
this thought that we could not well speak otherwise. 

We have studiously omitted the marvelous and vision- 
ary and held to the unpolished truth. We have eliminated 
the peculiarities of our own experience, for no two are 
exactly alike in every particular, and held closely to those 
truths that are as nearly universal as possible. Where 
for thoroughness we have been forced to speak of indi- 
vidual manifestations the fact has been mentioned. 

Reader, if you are praying for that purity which will 
fit you for the society and employments of heaven we trust 
our words will be of some use to you in gaining the goal 



4 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

of your endeavors, but put away the thought that it is 
too hard, and that you can never be made clean. Who can 
tell the value of a necessary article? much less can you tell 
the value of that "holiness without which no man shall 
see the Lord." It is of such infinite worth that any price 
you can pay will be but a drop compared to a mighty sea. 
Do not seek an easy way or a "shorter route," but take 
the way that will lead you to the blood that washes 
thoroughly from every stain. 

If you have already attained the fulness of love, we 
hope you will here find encouragements for your faith, 
and some humble lessons that will help you to be more 
effective in pointing others to "the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the world." 

With fervent prayer that God will bless our humble 
words to your good, and with an earnest desire that in the 
day of final reckoning we will find some one person that 
our tears and labors have furthered toward God, we com- 
mend these pages to your perusal, and may the blessings 
of the Triune God be with your spirits evermore. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CALL TO HOLINESS. 

"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holi- 
ness."— 1 Thes. 4: 7. 

"The human heart asks love ; but now I know 

That my heart hath from thee 
All real, and full, and marvelous affection, 
So near, so human I Yet divine perfection 
Thrills gloriously the mighty glow ! 

Thy love is enough for me ! 

"There were strange soul depths, restless, vast and broad, 

Unf athomed as the sea ; 
An infinite craving for some infinite stilling ; 
But now thy perfect love is perfect filling ! 
Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God, 

Thou, thou art enough for me." 

Yes, there are "strange soul depths, restless, vast and 
broad." There is an "infinite craving for some infinite still- 
ing" that never will be satiated until the famished soul 
quaffs living, healing waters from the fountain of eternal 
life, whose streams, sufficient for all the soul's needs, 
flow right into this world from the "fountain opened to 
the house of David." 

There are possibilities in man that are awful to con- 
template. We are so accustomed to seeing him, convers- 
ing with him, enjoying or revolting his company, that we 
forget the infinite possibilities that are locked up in him. 
Yea,- we are liable to forget the infinite worth of our own 
souls. Men's lives are too material. Matter and its mo- 
tions are about all the average person knows. Some, 



6 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

bolder, delve into material mysteries, and bring to light 
marvelous things ; and these people are called famous. 
Still others philosophize concerning mind and its powers ; 
but, notwithstanding all their wisdom, they are little ap- 
preciated outside of the halls of learning. There are very 
few, however, who trouble themselves to search into the 
mysteries of their spiritual existence. Thoughts of the 
Godhead are too deep for them to entertain ; redemption, 
the new birth, the mysteries of godliness, "the hope of our 
calling," the way of holiness, are all out of the realm of 
their investigations. True, they desire to get to heaven 
when they die, but want to do so with as little trouble 
as possible. Meanwhile their immortal spirits are clamor- 
ing after God; their hungry souls demand refreshment, 
and their longing hearts pant within them for a draught 
from some cooling fountain; but all these inward de- 
mands are either unheeded or slaked from the shallow 
springs of earthly good. 

Poor man, muck-raking in the mud and among the 
stubble of earth, when an immortal crown, more glorious 
than ever graced the head of Solomon, is suspended over 
him, which he can have for the asking! Spending hia 
precious days and years in earthly pursuits, gaining pleas- 
ure, fame and wealth, when the pleasures of palaces, the 
fame of generals or conquerors, or the wealth of earth's 
mightiest magnates are not worthy to be compared with 
the glory that may (even here) be revealed in him! 

Man, arouse thee. All nature is vocal with the call. 
It whispers in every passing breeze ; it thunders from the 
rumbling skies ; it echoes from the earth, and comes in 
beckoning form from sun, and moon and stars : The Bible 
repeats the call like the voice of God trumpeting on Sinai's 
cloud-capped mountain, or as heard speaking to Jesus 
when they that heard it said it thundered. The Spirit 
knocks at your heart's door and offers "a feast of fat 
things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." 
You are wasting immortal energies ; you are trifling with 
costly gems; you are bartering away the pearl of great 



> 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 7 

price. He calls you ; will you come to the feast? "All 
things are now ready." 

But you say that you are already saved from sin; 
that you have left the world behind you ; that you have 
counted its gold as clay, and its gains as loss. Thank God 
for all you have, but greater things are in store for you. 
You may be made "perfect in love." God has called you 
to holiness. 

"Ye who know your sins forgiven, 

And are happy in the Lord, 
Have you read the gracious promise 

Which is left upon record? 
I will sprinkle you with water, 

I will cleanse you from all sin; 
Sanctify and make you holy ; 

I will come and dwell within. 

"Though you have much peace and comfort, 

Greater things you yet may find ; 
Freedom from unholy tempers, 

Freedom from the carnal mind. 
To procure your full salvation, 

Jesus suffered, groan'd and died ; 
On the cross the healing fountain 

Gushed from his wounded side." 

As these words are written the writer's soul almost 
bursts within him. It gets a glimpse of infinite things, 
urges him forward, and moves him with the holy Rram- 
well to cry, "Oh, how I long for all the church to know 
this great salvation !" 

Oh, these burnings of love divine! Oh, this unquench- 
able flame, these strong desires after God and for the 
purification of the saints ! May God dip this pen in blood, 
point it with fire, and wing it with love and let it bring 
from his great heart burning words that will urge the 
reader on to holiness! 

"Rouse up. brother ! rouse up, sister ! 
Seek, O seek, thi3 holy state; 



8 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

None but holy ones can enter, 

Through the pure celestial gate. 
Can you bear the thought of losing 

All the joys that are above? 
No, my brother ; no, my sister, 

God will perfect you in love." 

In order to see the consummation of these things, let 
us go forward. Are you saying, "Amen, I will?" Then 
let us pray together, in the last stanza of the foregoing 
hymn, — 

"May a mighty sound from heaven, 

Suddenly come rushing down ; 
Cloven tongues, like as of fire, 

May they sit on all around, 
O may every soul be filled 

With the Holy Ghost to-day; 
He is coming ! he is coming ! 

O prepare, prepare the way." 

The following words from Fletcher will aid you, 
reader, in seeing the import of your holy calling, and per- 
haps help you in your decision to take the way. "Lift 
up your hands which hang down ; our Aaron, our heavenly 
High Priest, is near to hold them up. The spiritual 
Amalekites will not always prevail ; our Samuel, our 
heavenly prophet, is ready 'to cut them and their king 
in pieces before the Lord. The promise is unto you.' You 
are surely called to attain the perfection of your dis- 
pensation, although you still seem afar off. Christ, in 
whom that perfection centers — Christ, from whom it flows, 
is very near, even at the door; 'Behold,' says he (and 
this he spake to Laodicean loiterers), 'I stand at the door 
and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I 
will come in and sup with him,' upon the fruits of my grace 
in their Christian perfection; and he shall sup with me, 
upon the fruits of my glory, in their angelical and heavenly 
maturity. 

"Hear this encouraging gospel : 'Ask and you shall have ; 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 9 

seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened 
unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he 
that seeketh, findeth ; and to him that knocketh, it shall 
be opened.' 'If any of you [believers] lack wisdom' — in- 
dwelling wisdom (Christ the wisdom and the power of 
God dwelling in his heart by faith), 'let him ask of God, 
who giveth to all men, and upbraideth not, and it shall be 
given him. But let him ask [as a believer] in faith, 
nothing wavering ; for he that wavereth is like a wave of 
the sea driven with the wind and tossed :' 'for let not 
that man think that he shall receive' the thing which he 
thus asketh. # 'But whatsoever things ye desire, when ye 
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 
For all things [commanded and promised] are possible 
to him that believeth.' He who has commanded us to be 
'perfect in love,' 'as our heavenly Father is perfect,' and 
he who has promised 'speedily to avenge his elect, who 
cry unto him night and day :' he will speedily avenge you 
of your grand adversary, indwelling sin. * * * * 
"In the meantime be not afraid to give glory to God 
by 'believing in hope against hope.' Stagger not 'at the 
promise [of the Father and the Son] through unbelief:' 
but trust the power and faithfulness of your Creator and 
Redeemer, till your Sanctifier has fixed his abode in your 
heart. Wait at mercy's door, as the lame beggar did at 
the Beautiful gate of the temple. 'Peter fastening his eyes 
upon him, with John, said, Look unto us : and he gave 
heed to them, expecting to receive something of them.' 
Do so, too: give heed to the Father in the Son, who says, 
'Look unto me and be ye saved.' Expect to receive 'the 
one thing now needful' for you, — a fulness of the sancti- 
fying Spirit: and though your patience may be tried, it 
shall not be disappointed. The faith and power, which, 
at Peter's word, gave the poor cripple a perfect soundness 
In the presence of all the wondering Jews, will give' you, 
at Christ's word, a perfect soundness of heart in the pres- 
ence of all your adversaries." 



CHAPTER III. 



DEFINITION. 



Wesley defines Christian Perfection as "The loving God 
with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This im- 
plies that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, re- 
mains in the soul ; and that all the thoughts, words, and 
actions, are governed by pure love." 

When a person is justified, or converted, his past trans- 
gressions are blotted out, and he is "born again," or "re- 
generated;" he Is born into the family of God, thus be- 
coming "a son of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ;" 
he receives the witness of the Spirit testifying to this 
fact, from whom also he receives "power," ability, or 
"grace" to walk henceforth in the commandments of God. 
He lives a new life. "Old things are passed away and, 
behold, all things are become new." He "rejoices in God 
his Savior," and has "this testimony, that he pleases God." 
He has peace and love and all "the fruits of the Spirit." 
He loves God supremely, and loves his "neighbor as 
himself." 

But while all this is true, yet he sees in his heart an 
element, or a principle, that is contrary to this. He loves 
God, but realizes that his love is not perfect; he loves his 
neighbor, yet must struggle against inherent principles 
that are the opposite to this love ; he rejoices, but sees 
that his joy is liable to run into levity ; he is sober, but 
his sobriety is mixed with melancholy ; he has peace, but 
maintains it amid inward strife, or feels himself settling 
into stagnation ; he is longsuffering, but sees a tendency 
to be so for policy's sake, or, on the contrary, to lose 
his patience; he is faithful, but continually reproaches 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 11 

himself for the unfaithfulness of his heart, and sees a 
tendency to be firm because of stubbornness, or for the 
sake of contention ; he has faith, but must constantly 
struggle against the infidelity of his own heart ; in short 
he has all the fruits of the Spirit, but sees that every 
one of them is opposed by a contrary element, and that 
there remains in him a tendency to some inordinate lean- 
ing that has a semblance to genuine piety (and is called 
genuine by the world), but which is ruinous to grace. 

But when the heart is made holy all this is changed. 
Negatively, holiness is the absence of all moral defilement, 
of inherent tendencies to sin. This means exclusion of all 
wrong tendencies. Sin is a unit, i. e., the nature of sin 
is such that where one of its attributes appears every 
other attribute is present — even "the body of sin" itself. 
So if there is one carnal manifestation in the soul, all 
the rest are there, though they may lie dormant for the time 
being, and, it may be, will never show themselves. Car- 
nality is indivisible ; it cannot be taken out in the way 
of one thing at a time, and those who think that they can 
thus get rid of their heart sins find that when they sup- 
pose they have conquered one manifestation and begin 
on another the conquered one will rise up and thrust at 
them with the same viciousness as before. Inbred sin 
must be removed as a whole. True, it manifests itself 
to the mind's eye as pride, envy, jealousy, lust, and such 
like, but we cannot have pride cast out and retain envy; 
and, if impatience remains, so does jealousy, though these 
manifestations may be so weak as to cause the person 
to think that they do not remain. 

Since the "man of sin" can only be seen by those out- 
croppings which reveal its inherent nature, as the sway- 
ing of trees tells which way the wind blows, it follows 
that the only way to reach the center of this disease, or 
to find out the real condition of the soul, is carefully to 
observe the tendency of the desires springing from and 
expressing the nature within. If there is the least move- 
ment of the desires contrary to the love of God, or the 



12 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

least inclination toward gratification unlawfully or to an 
inordinate degree, there is back of this inclination a "body 
of sin" that will, unless held in check by the power of 
God or cast out, create in time a whirlwind of passion 
and unholiness which will be fatal to grace. So it be- 
hooves us to be careful. * 

Negatively, then, holiness is the perfect absence of 
inbred sin. The blessings which so delight the soul are 
received as a result of purity, and may be present in the 
experience to a greater or less degree. A sense of purity 
inwrought by the Holy Ghost is the abiding evidence of 
holiness, from the negative side. 

Positively, holiness is : 

1. Abandonment to all the will of God, without even 
involuntary objections to that will. In such a state one 
can praise God in afflictions, in necessities, in temptations, 
in slanders, as well as in prosperity, and can turn every 
providence, no matter how bitter and mysterious, to spirit- 
ual profit. 

2. Holiness is purity of motive, or, as the Bible says, 
"a single eye." The holy heart is saved from all mixture 
in its motives of the vile with the precious things of the 
Spirit, and has constantly a pure desire for God's glory. 
If its possessor makes a mistake, as he sometimes will, 
he can examine the most secret workings of his soul, and, 
after the most critical search, can conscientiously say, 
"I made a mistake, but my motives were pure." In order 
to make the claim that his motives are pure he will not 
be forced to fall back on the fact that he professes holiness 
and say, "I profess holiness, my heart is clean, therefore 
this motive must be all right." No; he can hold his 
motives before God, independent of his standing or pro- 
fessed standing in God, and see that they are pure. This 
means much but it is blessedly possible. 

3. "Purity is power." This statement is often made, 
but there is much confusion as to what this power is, as 
to what it will do for its possessor, and as to what its pos- 



* See page 155, "Conflicts of the Entirely Sanctified." 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 13 

sessor will be able to accomplish. This is an important ques- 
tion, as a misunderstanding one way or another might cause 
one to give up his hope in God if his accomplishments did 
not come up to his ideal. 

The power which springs from purity, is neither elo- 
quence nor the force of intellectual supremacy. Some men 
can sway great audiences at their pleasure ; that is power, 
but not necessarily the power of the Holy Ghost. Cicero 
did that, and he was a heathen. Patrick Henry, Daniel 
Webster and Stephen A. Douglas possessed remarkable 
ability in this direction, but they used it only in secular 
matters. The fact that some preachers of to-day possess 
the same ability, of necessity proves nothing, but merely 
indicates their personal magnetism or intellectual superi- 
ority. Beware of following a person because he manifests 
such power unless his advice is biblical. We must search 
deeper than the intellect for real power, for power in 
the Bible sense. 

The power of purity is manifested in four directions: 

(1) In the ability to control one's own life; to gain 
easy victory over temptations and circumstances ; to live 
with a single eye and a victorious heart. 

(2) Although its possessor rejoices not because devils 
are subject unto him, yet he can gain a comparatively 
easy victory over them. When the prince of this world 
cometh he hath nothing in the clean, devoted soul ; it is 
a dry place to him, and he must go elsewhere to find rest. 

(3) Power with men. Its possessor may or may 
not realize its exercise, but, consciously or unconsciously, 
he is wielding an influence that is deeper than mere 
human supremacy, and which lays hold of the heart of 
the onlooker. He may be inferior in intellectual capacity, 
and like Paul, his "bodily presence may be weak, and his 
speech contemptible;" but he can have so much of the 
Holy Ghost that he will rise above all this and compel 
people to respect the God in him. 

The power of purity is not in the outward form of 
utterance, but in the deep undercurrent that silently but 



14 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

effectually cuts to the heart and convinces of sin. This 
is because the Holy Ghost accompanies the pure in heart 
more than others, since these can be trusted. It is said 
of James Caughey that he lived next door to heaven, and 
the celestial powers acquainted him with things they did 
not let everybody know. 

The sermons and testimonies of the pure in heart will 
stir the hearers up to more holy living. How many people 
there are who can preach and testify well, even eloquently, 
but all they say flies over the people's heads like skyrockets, 
till men almost become dizzy watching the shining paths 
in the sky, but when the enraptured hearers come down 
to the dull realities of living they find they have not been 
strengthened in the least, and, it may be, are grievously 
disappointed with the cold, hard facts of life after such a 
dizzy, ethereal flight, and find themselves even weakened 
when they meet severe temptations. But the power of 
purity lies in its ability to go straight to the mark, and, 
with holy unction and fervor, point out the lack in people's 
lives and set them all on fire for greater achievements. 

Its power also lies in its force of example. Godly 
humility will incite honest people to emulation. Earnest- 
ness will produce a like zeal in others, and love will catch 
in devoted hearts like fire in standing corn. One's emi- 
nent attainments in this direction will cause a pressing 
forward in others. 

Again, its power is manifest in its holy, steadfast con- 
fidence. Realizing its own innocency, purity fears not 
to proclaim the whole truth of holy living, and to express 
its entire confidence that others can receive a like benefit 

Its possessor feels the importance of what he says. 
That person who has spent the most of the day in idle 
chit-chat must not expect much of the power of God at 
night. The purified person so realizes the importance of 
his words that he is choice in using them ; then each word 
is more likely to burn with holy fire as it goes home to 
some needy heart. "Let thy words be few," and the 
few will be more likely to be honored of God. 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 15 

The possessor of purity is burdened for souls. There 
is nothing so effectual in awakening souls as a God-given 
burden for them on the part of God's people. This the 
pure soul possesses. He knows what it is to weep for 
the lost, to groan in Gethsemane. The person who does 
not possess this burden would do well to search the ground 
of his heart and see if it is clean as he fondly imagines 
it to be. 

The great source of the power of purity lies in the 
fact that its possessor is indwelt by the Holy Ghost. Al- 
though the hearer may not know anything about spiritual 
matters, and may even be skeptical as to their possibil- 
ities, yet in spite of contrary prejudices his heart is moved. 
This is the great thought that Jesus impressed on the 
minds of the disciples in connection with the reception of 
the heavenly Paraclete — "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem 
till ye be endued with power from on high." "Ye shall 
receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you." From the earnestness of the disciples in waiting 
for the fulfilment of this promise we naturally infer that 
they felt their great need of its accomplishment, and that 
they were not properly equipped without it. The results, 
when compared with their former weakness, fully justify 
the assumption. If you lack that holy anointing which 
makes you strong in the Lord and in the power of his 
might you are not to the bottom yet; dig deeper till your 
soul is filled with all the fulness of God. 

(4) Power with God. Jacob had power with God, 
he wrestled and prevailed. Daniel prayed and the angel 
came to his rescue. Elijah prayed till it rained not for 
three years and six months ; he prayed again and the 
heavens gave rain. Holy men of all ages have wrestled 
till God answered. Here is the real reason for all the 
power of purity. Its possessors tarry so much in the 
secret place that they prevail with God. And coming from 
this sacred presence how can they help but be a power 
with men and victorious in life? Such persons shed a 
sacred influence wherever they go. "As princes they have 



16 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

power with God." Oh, for the Pentecostal baptism of pre- 
vailing power! 

4. The holy heart is filled with all the fruits of the 
Spirit. It is entirely free from all the alloy that is found 
in the justified heart, and the graces of the Spirit, perfect 
in quality, reign alone. The development of these graces 
does not consist in a change or bettering of their nature, 
but in such a deepening and enrichment of them that they 
more and more perfectly control the outward actions, 
and even the most secret thoughts ; changing and refashion- 
ing the whole life from day to day ; utilizing every furnace, 
trial or temptation, every misunderstanding, every burden 
or perplexity, for the perfecting of outward and the matur- 
ity and enrichment of inward holiness, "till we all come 
* * unto a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the 
fulness of Christ." In respect to the possibilities of growth 
there is no end ; and as a man is not physically perfect 
till he gets his growth, so the soul is never perfect in the 
sense of excluding further development; but, thank God, 
it can have not only perfect love, but also perfect faith, 
patience, resignation, humility, long-suffering, hope, and 
all graces of the Spirit, — perfect in quality though not 
in degree. 

Fletcher says, "Christian perfection is a spiritual con- 
stellation made up of these gracious stars ; perfect re- 
pentance, perfect faith, perfect humility, perfect meekness, 
perfect self-denial, perfect resignation, perfect hope, per- 
fect charity for our visible enemies, as well as for our 
earthly relations ; and, above all, perfect love for our in- 
visible God, through the explicit knowledge of our Med- 
iator Jesus Christ. And this last star is always accom- 
panied by the others, as Jupiter is by his satellites. We 
frequently use, as St. John, the phrase 'perfect love,' 
instead of the word perfection ; understanding by it the 
pure love of God shed abroad in the hearts of established 
believers by the Holy Ghost, which is abundantly given 
them under the fulness of the Christian dispensation." 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 17 

The following definitions from Wesley will help to a 
proper understanding of the subject. 

He says, "But what is perfection? The word has 
various senses : here it means perfect love. It is love 
excluding sin; love filling the heart, taking up the whole 
capacity of the soul. It is love 'rejoicing evermore, pray- 
ing without ceasing, in everything giving thanks.' " 

" 'The pure in heart,' are they whose hearts God hath 
'purified even as he is pure;' who are purified through 
faith in the blood of Jesus, from every unholy affection ; 
who, being 'cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh ano 
spirit, perfect holiness in the [loving] fear of God.' They 
are, through the power of his grace, purified from pride, 
by the deepest poverty of spirit; from anger, from every 
unkind or turbulent passion, by meekness and gentleness; 
from every desire but to please and enjoy God, to know 
and love him more and more, by that hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, which now engrosses their whole soul : 
so that now they love the Lord their God with all their 
heart, and with all their soul, and mind and strength." 

"What is then the perfection of which man is capable 
while he dwells in a corruptible body? It is the comply- 
ing with that kind command: 'My son, give me thy heart.' 
It is the 'loving the Lord his God with all his heart, and 
with all his soul, and with all his mind.' This is the 
sum of Christian perfection : it is all comprised in that 
one word, love. The first branch of it is the love of God: 
and as he that loves God loves his brother also, it is in- 
separably connected with the second: 'Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself:' Thou shalt love every man as thy 
own soul, as Christ loved us. 'On these two command- 
ments hang all the law and the prophets :' these contain 
the whole of Christian Perfection. * * * * 

"St. Paul, when writing to the Galatians, places per- 
fection in yet another view. It is the one undivided fruit 
of the Spirit which he describes thus : 'The fruit of the 
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, 



18 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

fidelity,' so the word should be translated here, 'meek- 
ness, temperance.' What a glorious constellation of graces 
is here! Now suppose all these things to be knit together 
in one, to be united together in the soul of the believer, 
this is Christian perfection." 

Wesley explains the difference between the experiences 
of justification and holiness thus : "In the same proportion 
as one grows in faith, he grows in holiness ; he increases 
in love, lowliness, meekness, in every part of the image 
of God; till it pleases God after he is thoroughly convinced 
of inbred sin, of the total corruption of his nature, to 
take it all away ; to fulfil that promise which he made 
first to his ancient people, and in them to the Israel of 
God in all ages : 'I will circumcise thy heart, and the 
heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul.' 

"It is not easy to conceive what a difference there is, 
between that which he experiences now, and that which 
he experienced before. Till this universal change is wrought 
in the soul, all his holiness was mixed. He was humble, 
but not entirely ; his humility was mixed with pride : he 
was meek ; but his meekness was frequently interrupted 
by anger, or some uneasy and turbulent passion. His love 
of God was frequently damped by the love of some crea- 
ture; the love of his neighbor, by evil surmising, or some 
thought, if not temper, contrary to love. His will was 
not wholly melted down into the will of God: but although 
in general he could say, I come 'not to do my own will, 
but the will of him that sent me;' yet now and then nature 
rebelled, and he could not clearly say, 'Lord, not as I will, 
but as thou wilt.' His whole soul is now consistent with 
itself; there is no jarring string. All his passions flow in 
a continual stream, with an even tenor, to God. To him 
that is entered into his rest, you may truly say, 

" 'Calm thou ever art within, 
All unruffled, all serene!' 

There is no mixture of any contrary affections ; all is 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 19 

peace and harmony after. Being filled with love, there is 
no more interruption of it than of the beating of his 
heart; and continual love bringing continual joy in the 
Lord, he rejoices evermore. He converses continually with 
the God whom he loves, unto whom in everything he gives 
thanks. And as he now loves God with all his heart, and 
with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his 
strength; so Jesus now reigns alone in his heart the Lord 
of every motion there." 

Again he says, "The apostle seems to mean by this ex- 
pression, telleioi, Ye shall be wholly delivered from every 
evil work ; from every evil word ; from every sinful 
thought ; yea, from every evil desire, passion, temper ; from 
all inbred corruption, from all remains of the carnal mind 
from the body of sin ; and ye shall be renewed in the 
spirit of your mind, in every right temper, after the image 
of him that created you, in righteousness and true holi- 
ness." 

The following thoughts may be of service in giving 
the reader more exact understanding of what holiness will 
do for him. Holiness of heart does not consist in wonder- 
ful ecstasies and raptures, but in a heart in tune with 
the pure love of God ; not in wonderful up-liftings, so much 
as in wonderful down-sinkings ; not in wonderful wit- 
nesses, unless as they are accompanied with and followed 
by an absence of sinful tendencies ; not in spiritual ex- 
altations, but in ever-deepening self abasement. As the 
individual views himself and his efforts, holiness consists 
not necessarily in the fact that he sees the mighty power 
of God working through him, but in a deep sense of his 
own weakness and utter dependence on God. 

Holiness does not consist in boldness and forwardness, 
but in meekness and gentleness ; not in being headstrong 
and independent, but in being teachable and easily in- 
treated ; not in being loud and boisterous, even in mani- 
festations of blessing, but in the possession of a "meek and 
quiet spirit;" not in the ability to lead, but in willingness 
to be led, and that even by an inferior ; not in the ability 



20 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

to hold to and win our point, but in the ability to yield 
to another, even when in the right, and not feel crosswise 
toward the other person when he smiles at your seeming 
defeat. 

Holiness does not consist in the ability to preach won- 
derful sermons, or to give powerful testimonies, but rather 
in the ability to hear some one excel you in these func- 
tions and not feel envious ; not in the ability to gain the 
applause of the people, but in freedom from jealousy when 
the other man is applauded. 

Holiness does not consist in the ability to disregard your 
faults and smile at reproof ; but rather in the ability to look 
them squarely in the face and come out as clear as ever; 
not alone in victory over temptation, but in a deep abhor- 
rence of the thing offered in the temptation, in a conscious 
absence of the inward strugglings of sinful tendencies when 
tempted; not in the ability to disregard temptation, but 
in the ability when it confronts you to squarely face it. 
and still know you are clean ; not in the ability to hold an 
experience, but in the ability to seem to turn it loose, 
and then find it return clearer than ever ; not in the ability 
to face temptation down, but in the ability when it faces 
you down and has done its best, to arise through it all into 
glorious light, as clear before God as when it came. 

Holiness does not consist in being clear before man only, 
but in being clear before the omniscient eye of Jehovah. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PROPER AND IMPROPER CANDIDATES. 

The first question to be settled by seekers of holiness, 
or entire sanctification, is whether or not they are proper 
candidates to receive this inestimable grace. One thing is 
true, much of what is called holiness teaching these days 
is not properly such, since it is given to those who are 
as unfit to receive its benefits as a swine's nose is unfit for 
a jewel of gold, and who would, therefore, be sure to de- 
grade the holy profession to their own unholy purposes. 
The average professor of to-day is an unfit subject for 
sanctifying grace, until he first repents of his crookedness 
and takes the way of the cross, 

We desire to show, first, who are not; secondly, who 
are, proper candidates for this experience. 

I. Who are not proper candidates. 

1. The person who has never been converted cannot 
be sanctified wholly, for it is a work of grace received by 
faith subsequent to that of justification. On this question 
we need have very little controversy, for in all ages of 
Christendom no other doctrine has been taught except by 
very few men in comparatively recent years. The creeds 
and confessions of church bodies and theological, devo- 
tional and biographical writings generally are replete with 
testimonies in favor of holiness as a second work of grace. 
So numerous are they that if we should attempt to tran- 
scribe them, we would scarcely know where to end. About 
the only thing on which they disagree is with reference 
to the time subsequent to conversion when one may be 
sanctified. 

People take on a profession of religion in some evan- 



22 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

gelistic meeting, and, afterward, realizing that their ex- 
periences are unsatisfactory, are persuaded that what they 
need is holiness. But this in most cases is not true. 
What they need is to be so thoroughly saved from sin that 
they will get out of the seventh chapter of Romans. Have 
you ever had a clear, positive conversion? and did you re- 
ceive the witness of the Spirit unmistakably testifying to 
this fact? If not, stop seeking holiness as an advanced 
experience and ask God to save you from your sins. 

2. The backslider in heart is not a proper subject 
for sanctifying grace. Some persons seem to think it 
necessary for them to get into a place where they no longer 
enjoy the blessing of God as they formerly did, where they 
are living a crooked, two-sided life, manifesting bad tem- 
pers and giving way to vicious appetites, in order that 
they must seek holiness to save them from all this. Such 
persons answer the Bible description which says, "The 
backslider in heart is filled with his own ways;" and the 
first thing necessary for one in this condition is, to be 
restored to the favor of God as in former years. 

To determine your religious standing answer before God 
the following questions : 

Have you the same victory over sin you formerly 
possessed? 

Was the blessing you received the day you were con- 
verted the most wonderful you ever received? 

Does God come to your heart now as he did formerly? 

Have you the same earnestness for God's glory and the 
salvation of your friends you had formerly? 

Do you have as great love for secret prayer as you had 
when you were first saved, or is the secret place sadly 
neglected? 

Is it as easy to deny yourself now as formerly? 

Is the cause of God uppermost in your mind, or can 
you easily find excuses to stay at home from meetings, or 
to neglect other religious duties? 

Be careful, reader, for if the former days were better 
than these, in that proportion you have lost ground ; and 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 23 

you must reach the high-water mark of past experience 
before you are ready to seek sanctification. 

3. If you have been living an up-and-down life, and 
are under condemnation for neglect of duty, or for the 
indulgence of sinful tempers, words or actions, you are 
not a proper candidate for entire sanctification, and will 
not be, until you have repented and been forgiven. Some 
people vacillate between obedience and disobedience, be- 
tween the favor and the disfavor of God. Sometimes they 
are on the mount of transfiguration, and at other times in 
the quagmire of doubt and uncertainty. At one time their 
consciences approve them, and at other times their con- 
sciences condemn them. Vacillating here and there, driven 
about by "every wind of doctrine" even their friends 
acknowledge that it is hard to tell where to find them at 
any given time. Such persons generally get "warmed up" 
during the revival meeting, and "run well for a season" 
— until "something happens" — then they are "down" until 
quarterly meeting, camp-meeting, or some other general 
service comes. Then they fall in line again, "work up" 
a good feeling, and are loud in their expressions of joy. 
You can depend on them, as seekers, at every camp-meet- 
ing ; and, usually, toward the last of the meeting they will 
take the ground by storm. But two weeks later they are 
in the same old rut. Either their husbands, wives, neigh- 
bors, friends, enemies, the preacher, the church, the grocer, 
the plumber, or some one else, did not do things to suit 
their notion ; and, as the old, chronic sore was touched, the 
same old virus came out as before; and then for days 
and weeks everybody in the family and the church is in 
misery when they are around. Reader, do you belong 
to this class? If so, for your own soul's sake pray out 
to-day ; get the victory, and keep it, and then go in for 
holiness ; but stop trying to make yourself and the people 
think that what you need to save you from such a life is 
holiness. No ; you need a thorough conversion which 
will save you from such inconsistencies of life. 

How often you hear people saying, "My justified life was 



24 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

not satisfactory, I would fly off the handle, get angry, 
and say and do things I ought not to have said or done, 
and so made crooked paths for my feet ; but when I got 
sanctified I quit getting angry, and have been making 
straight paths ever since." Saved people do not get angry, 
or, if they do, they sin and must be forgiven ; or make 
crooked paths ; and if the foregoing was your experience, 
you got converted instead of sanctified. And the fact 
that you live right now does not prove that you have 
holiness in the sense of entire sanctification. Can God 
justify a sinner who persists in his sins? The Bible says, 
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear 
me" (Psa. 66:18). Also, "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh 
them [his sins] shall have mercy." 

4. It would be impossible to collect and refute all the 
erroneous ideas of different people in regard to the condi- 
tion of those who need holiness. One class of persons 
allows some things while condemning those things allowed 
by another class, and you will notice that they allow the 
very things of which they have been guilty, and condemn 
those from which they were the most free. They make 
room for themselves to slip through. One man allows re- 
bellion, "God told me to do something, and I said 'No,' 
and would not do it. Holiness saved me from saying no 
to God." Another allows anger, "In my justified ex- 
perience I was always getting angry." Another allows 
pride, "Before I was sanctified I wore feathers, flowers 
and jewelry, but when I was sanctified I had to put all 
these away." Another allows dishonesty ; and another un- 
cleanness, as tobacco, snuff, etc. But conversion cleans 
a person up in these respects and helps him to live a 
clean, honest, righteous life. 

II. The second question is, Who are proper candi- 
dates? 

The answer is very simple : All who have been clearly 
converted, and are still walking in all the light. This 
looks clear at first sight, but the fact is that people's 
ideas of what constitutes conversion are so varied, and 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 25 

some of them so erroneous, that it is necessary briefly to 
state the marks of this experience, and also the steps 
necessary to its attainment, in order to help out any who 
may be in the dark. 

By glaring, e very-day facts we are forced to the con- 
clusion that the great defect in modern holiness teaching 
is its tendency to belittle the glorious doctrine of justi- 
fication by faith ; and that this is done by superficial 
preachers of holiness to make room for their abnormal 
presentation of the experience of holiness. After mini- 
mizing or entirely overlooking regeneration and the con- 
sequent life of righteousness, they proceed at once to 
preach holiness to a congregation of worldly, unconverted 
professors, and exhort them to go up at once and possess 
the land. Its glories and beauties are set before them in 
such glowing terms that it causes a strong desire for its 
possession, even from a selfish standpoint. Tens, twenties, 
fifties, and even hundreds flock to the altar, and, with 
scarcely one thought of doing the thing that is the most 
necessary for them to do — repent of their past sins and 
separate themselves from worldliness — they submit to a 
given formula and profess holiness without having been 
converted, or even deeply convicted of sin. Such persons, 
by their crooked, and carnal lives linked to a profession 
of holiness, which they persist in publishing abroad, will, 
as a natural consequence, bring reproach on the doctrine 
and experience of entire sanctification. All, or nearly all, 
of this confusion would be avoided by properly present- 
ing the Bible standard of justification. 

To be clearly justified one must meet the following con« 
ditions : 1. Repent, and in the scriptural sense. Re- 
pentance is ( 1 ) A godly sorrow for sin ; not the shedding 
of a few sentimental tears, nor sorrow because of the con- 
sequences of sin ; but sorrow for sin because of its sinful 
nature. (2) Confession ; to one's neighbors where they 
have been wronged; where no one in particular has been 
injured, to God only. (3) Restitution of that which has 
been taken by theft or fraud, so far as possible. (4) 



26 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

Separation from sin, worldliness and worldly companion- 
ships. 2. Entire devotion of one's self and all he has to 
the service of God for time and eternity. 3. Faith in 
God. There are two kinds or degrees of faith necessary ; 
(1) That general confidence in God taught in the words, 
"He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that 
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (2) 
Saving faith, or that which now takes hold of the merits 
of the blood of Jesus Christ and appropriates the same to 
the soul's needs. 

4. It is also necessary in scriptural justification that 
the seeker receive the witness of the Spirit. Much might 
be written on this subject without making it one whit 
more clear than to say, It is an inward consciousness 
wrought by the Holy Ghost that past sins are forgiven, 
that the heart is renewed, and that the renewed man has 
become a tabernacle for the indwelling of God. The real 
witness of the Spirit cannot be mistaken. God testifies 
definitely, clearly, and beyond dispute, to his work. "Verily, 
verily, we speak that we do know." 

A changed life will necessarily follow the reception of 
this experience. Old things are passed away. Sinful 
fashions, evil habits, wrath, frauds, thefts, drunkenness, 
blasphemy, in short, all wickedness is a thing of the past. 
Now the tree produces love, joy, peace, longsuffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, patience, 
brotherly kindness, and all the beautiful fruits of the 
Spirit. 

Let us propose a few questions by which you may 
weigh yourself and see if you are a proper person to 
begin seeking the experience of holiness. 

1. Were you clearly converted? So clearly that you 
would dare risk your chances of heaven upon its certainty? 

2. Is there a moment in your past experience t& which 
you can point and say, "There old things passed away, and 
I passed from death unto life"? 

3. Has your life been godly ever since? 

4. Did you ever backslide? and if you did, were you 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 27 

as clearly reclaimed afterward as you were saved in the 
first place? 

5. Do you have an inward realization that you please 
God? 

6. Have you now the witness of the Spirit to your 
acceptance ? 

7. Is your daily life before your family, friends and 
enemies consistent with your profession? 

8. Do you enjoy, or endure, your religion? 

9. Do you delight yourself in the Lord? or do you 
serve him to escape hell? 

10. Do you conquer the inward strivings of carnality? 
or do they conquer you? 

11. Do you long to be made perfect in love? 

If before God you can give satisfactory answers to 
these questions, you are in a good place, and may regard 
yourself as a promising candidate for all the fulness of 
God. 

"Come, let us ascend, 

My companion and friend, 
To a taste of the banquet above ; 

If thy heart bo as mine, 

If for Jesus it pine, 
Come up into the chariot of love." 



CHAPTER V. 

STRIVINGS WITHIN. 

Usually when persons are first converted they have 
such remarkable victory that they are unconscious of the 
fact that there is anything in their hearts contrary to the 
love of God. Joys flow like a river, or, at least, like 
gurgling streamlets, almost constantly ; nothing ruffles the 
peace and quietness of the love which reigns supreme and 
unfettered. This state of things lasts for different lengths 
of time in different individuals. Generally it continues 
less than a month, but sometimes may continue for even 
a year ; and in other cases, where there has been unusually 
clear light and more than the ordinary perception of di- 
vine things, light on internal conditions and needs is given 
almost immediately after conversion ; but such cases are 
exceptional. 

Here is how it comes about. All is going on smoothly ; 
peace flows undisturbed; there is freedom in prayer, in 
testimony, in the heart ; provocations are met and con- 
quered with astonishing ease. But, as the poet says, 

"Some days must be dark and dreary," 

and such a day comes to this happy convert. In spite of 
every effort to the contrary complications arise; different 
obstacles throw themselves across his path; trials of the 
most vexing kind press in from every side; and right in 
the midst of all this his eyes are drawn from without, 
and he is given a view of the workings of his soul. To 
his astonishment he sees an element that rebels, or that 
at least grows impatient and complains. It may not be 
very great, almost imperceptible at first, but it is enough 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 29 

to cause grief, and something like a sting mingles with 
the holy thrill of joy so lately experienced. This never 
leaves for any great length of time till the heart is 
cleansed. He may have a struggle to quiet the inward 
troubler, but the grace of God assisting, he conquers. 

Or, the vision of inbred sin may come suddenly. All at 
once some trying event occurs. Some tale-bearer repeats 
in your ears a vile report that has been told about you ; or, 
you are insulted to your face ; or some one offers to strike 
you. Whatever it is, it comes suddenly, takes you off your 
guard, and in an instant anger arises and thrusts sore at 
you. You may feel your fists clench and your tongue 
ready to utter perverse words ; but you remember that you 
are saved and do not yield to the trial even in your heart, 
but shut your lips tightly and hurry away to some retreat 
where you can pray and get the victory. And you do get 
it, but are much troubled, and say, "O God, what does 
this mean? I thought that such things were forever past. 
Must I forever endure this?" But while you will mourn, 
you need not mourn as those that have no hope. The 
promise is yours. Here let me say that it is positively un- 
necessary that you get your head down and allow melan- 
choly brooding to take possession of you or to hinder you 
in any degree. You are not to blame for these things, and 
you ought to rejoice that the Lord has been so kind as to 
open your eyes to see your condition. God does nothing 
to tantalize us, and this sight of sin is given that you may 
be delivered, and you should praise him for it all. 

Wesley asks the question, "But may we not continue 
in peace and joy till we are perfected in love?" and 
answers it as follows : "Certainly we may ; for the kingdom 
of God is not divided against itself; therefore, let not 
believers be discouraged from 'rejoicing in the Lord al- 
ways.' And yet we may be sensibly pained at the sinful 
nature that still remains in us. It is good for us to have 
a piercing sense of this, and a vehement desire to be de- 
livered from it. But this should incite us the more 
zealously to fly every moment to our strong Helper, the 



30 . LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

more earnestly to press forward to the mark, the prize 
of our high calling in Christ Jesus. And when the sense 
of our sin most abounds, the sense of his love should much 
more abound." 

There is no doubt that this is the best time to begin to 
urge your case for deliverance. Many persons have wan- 
dered weary years with these carnal traits staring them 
in the face, without gaining the deliverance they needed, 
simply because they either failed to push forward (through 
lack of energy or earnestness), or because they were not 
properly led by their teachers. 

Here is where a great many holiness teachers and 
seekers fail. Quite often the seekers would not be so 
apt to make mistakes if they were let alone, for in the 
ardor of their desires after God they would find the sore 
of their hearts and confess and deplore it until deliverance 
would be given. But as soon as a little earnestness is 
manifested, a few tears shed, and a strong desire for 
holiness is expressed, they are straightway thrown from 
the track and run off in the wrong direction. Instead of 
being urged to press their suit before God earnestly, they 
are set to consecrating their time, talents, etc., or to pre- 
suming that the work is done, till they get into the fog 
and must struggle, perhaps for weeks, to get out into clear 
sailing again. 

The following from Wesley is to the point concerning 
the first movings of carnality after conversion : "How 
naturally do those who experience such a change, imagine 
that all sin is gone ; that it is utterly rooted out of their 
hearts, and has no more any place therein? How easily 
do they draw that inference, 'I feel no sin; therefore I 
have none: it does not stir! therefore it does not exist; 
it has no motion; therefore it has no being.' 

"'But it is seldom long before they are undeceived, 
finding sin was only suspended, not destroyed. Tempta- 
tions return, and sin revives ; showing it was but stunned 
before, not dead. They now feel two principles in them- 
selves, plainly contrary to each other ; 'the flesh lusting 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 31 

against the Spirit ;' nature opposing the grace of God. They 
cannot deny, that, although they still feel power to be- 
lieve in Christ, and to love God; and although his 'Spirit 
[still] witnesses with their spirits, that they are children 
of God;' yet they feel in themselves sometimes pride or 
self-will, sometimes anger or unbelief. They find one or 
more of these frequently stirring in their hearts, though 
not conquering ; yea, perhaps, 'thrusting sore at them that 
they may fall' ; but the Lord is their help." 

Again, "It is true, he has scarce any conception of 
this (the carnal mind and the necessity of deliverance 
from it) who now begins to know the inward kingdom of 
heaven. 'In his prosperity he saith, I shall never be 
moved; thou, Lord, hast made my hill so strong.' Sin 
is so utterly bruised beneath his feet, that he can scarce 
believe it remaineth in him. Even temptation is silenced, 
and speaks not again : it cannot approach, but stands afar 
off. He is borne aloft in the chariots of joy and love : he 
soars 'as upon the wings of an eagle.' But our Lord 
well knew, that this triumphant state does not often con- 
tinue long : he therefore presently subjoins : 'Blessed are 
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' " 

" But they see temptation and sin, which they 

fondly supposed were gone never to return, arising again, 
following after them again, and holding them in on every 
side. It is not strange if their soul is now disquieted 
within them, and trouble and heaviness take hold upon 
them. Nor will their great enemy fail to improve 
the occasion ; to ask, 'Where now is thy God? Where now 
the blessedness of which thou spakest? The beginning of 
the kingdom of heaven? Yea, hath God said, "Thy sins 
are forgiven thee?" Surely God hath not said it. It was 
only a dream, a mere delusion, a creature of thy own 
imagination. If thy sins are forgiven, why art thou thus? 
Can a pardoned sinner be thus unholy?' — And, if then, 
instead of immediately crying to God, they reason with 
him that is wiser than they, they will be in heaviness 
indeed, in sorrow of heart, in anguish not to be expressed. 



32 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

Nay, even when God shines again upon the soul, and takes 
away all doubt of his past mercy, still he that is weak 
in faith may be tempted and troubled on account of what 
is to come; especially when inward sin revives, and thrusts 
sore at him that he may fall. Then may he cry out, 

" *I have a sin of fear, that when I've spun 
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore.' " 

Now the battle has commenced in earnest, "The flesh 
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the 
flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other : so 
that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5:17). 
There is a good Bible illustration of this internal warfare 
in the two sons of Abraham — Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac 
"the son of the free-woman" was "by promise," but Ish- 
mael, "who was of a bondwoman was of the flesh." The 
two boys did not get along well together, for it is written, 
"He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that 
was born after the Spirit." Then it is added, "even so 
is it now." Finally, Abraham was commanded to "cast 
out the bondwoman and her son." Yes, "even so it is now" 
in the heart of every young convert until he, by the grace of 
God, "casts out the bondwoman and her son;" until he 
receives the second work of grace — the cleansing of his 
soul from inbred sin. 

When the Spirit of God within leads out to endeavor 
for him, the "flesh," or "carnality," or "depravity," by 
whatever name it may be called (some prefer one and 
some another), so "lusteth against" him that it is hard to 
obey. The warfare is continual, grace against nature and 
nature against grace, till the heart cries out for peace 
at the hands of God. There is hope for you, brother, in 
such a case, and God, by these views of the internal 
strife, is calling, is wooing you on to greater things. Press 
forward; the goal is not far distant. "So run that ye may 
obtain." 

A natural question that arises at this point is, how 
long will it take me to pray through? How long must I 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 33 

thus groan in sight of my corruptions before I may expect 
deliverance to come? At present let us quote a passage 
from Wesley and return to the question later. 

"But some who maintain this doctrine in its fullest 
extent are too often guilty of limiting the Almighty. He 
dispenses his gifts just as he pleases ; therefore, it is 
neither wise nor modest to affirm that a person must be a 
believer for any length of time before he is capable of re- 
ceiving a high degree of the Spirit of holiness. 

"God's usual method is one thing, but his sovereign 
pleasure is another. He has wise reasons both for hasten- 
ing and retarding his work. Sometimes he comes suddenly 
and unexpectedly ; sometimes not till we have long looked 
for him. 

"Indeed it has been my opinion for many years that 
one great cause why men make so little improvement in 
the divine lift, is their own coldness, negligence, and un- 
belief. And yet I here speak of believers. 

" God usually gives a considerable time for men 

to receive light, to grow in grace, to do and suffer his 
will, before they are either justified or sanctified; but he 
does not invariably adhere to this ; sometimes he 'cuts 
short his work ;' he does the work of many years in a 
few weeks ; perhaps in a week, a day, an hour. He justi- 
fies or sanctifies both those who have done or suffered 
nothing, and who have not had time for gradual growth 
either in light or grace. And 'may he not do what he will 
with his own? Is thine eye evil, because he is good?' 

"It need not, therefore, be affirmed over and over, and 
proved by forty texts of scripture, either that most men 
are perfected in love at last, that there is a gradual work 
of God in the soul, or that, generally speaking, it is a long 
time, even many years, before sin is destroyed. All this 
we know : but we know, likewise, that God may, with man's 
good leave, 'cut short his work,' in whatever degree he 
pleases, and do the work of many years in a moment." 

Modern imperfectionists, or rather gradualists, take 
such passages as this from Wesley to prove that he be- 



34 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

lieved in gradual sanctification. But this is not true. His 
writings as a whole are against any such doctrine. He 
simply means in this place that most people are not 
sanctified soon after they are saved, but that they grow in 
grace and gradually approach the experience for perhaps 
a number of years, but that at length the time comes w r hen 
sin suddenly dies, and at that moment the heart is made 
perfect in love. The prominent thought of the above quo- 
tation is that God sometimes does the work of entire 
sanctification soon after conversion, and that if it is not 
thus received, it is because the seeker by his "coldness, 
negligence, and unbelief" limits the power of God, and not 
because God will not give it to him until he has grown 
or suffered his way into it. Now is God's accepted time, 
and he will perfect you in love as soon as you meet his 
reasonable requirements, and, by faith, get under the 
blood. Beware of putting off the matter too long, thereby' 
grieving the tender Holy Spirit of God; and, on the con- 
trary, beware of being too hasty, and rushing ahead of 
the Spirit. God will give you time to make sure w r ork 
m the destruction of every vestige of the carnal mind. 
Carnality is his enemy, and he desires that you shall 
pursue it unrelentingly, till it expires on the cross by 
power divine. 



CHAPTER VI. 



MOTIVES. 



The motive that prompts to any action must be right 
in order that the action be acceptable in the sight of God. 
Also the motive for asking favors of the Lord must be 
right before the favor can be granted. It is the motive 
then that either gains or forfeits the approval of God. 

So the motive that prompts to seeking holiness must 
be right. Many seek with a wrong motive, and, because 
they fail to get what they desire, are tempted to think 
that God is unable or unwilling to cleanse from inbred sin 
at all, at least to cleanse them ; or at least that he will 
not do it till they are about to die. James said, "Ye ask, 
and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may con- 
sume it upon your lusts" (Jas. 4:3). He that comes to 
God must come with all his heart, and in the full purpos? 
of his will throw his sin-tossed soul on the mercy of God 

A mere desire to feel happy will not gain the coveted 
prize. The senses are too prominent in this motive. While 
there is little room to doubt that if the soul is cleansed 
there will be deep, powerful, holy emotions, beyond what 
the merely justified ever have, yet the desire to obtain 
these pleasing emotions for their own sake is born of 
carnality and selfishness, and God will not answer a carnal, 
selfish prayer. The fact that you feel badly while others 
enjoy themselves is no sufficient reason for seeking de- 
liverance. You must get deeper than that. 

Then some have a secret desire to make a good ap- 
pearance, and, thinking that holiness will give them the 
ability to do so, they strive after its attainment. They 
have heard those who profess holiness, testify, pray, ex- 



36 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

hort, or preach, with a great amount of liberty and unc- 
tion, and they want holiness so they can do the same. This 
is born of emulation. If you are cleansed you will, in 
all probability, feel more like getting back in a corner than 
like "vaunting" yourself in this way. 

Then some want to be able to testify to some "wonder- 
ful experience." They want people to stare at them and 
say, "What a wonderful experience Brother Blank has." 
Or, because others have an experience that is remark- 
able, they want to be able to testify to the same experience. 
Then others seek holiness because it is presented as a 
gospel privilege. Thousands are duped into a profession 
of holiness by so-called holiness evangelists, who present 
the glory and privilege side of the experience to the ex- 
clusion of other things just as important. Against their 
better judgment they are pushed and crowded into saying 
they are sanctified, and if they hesitate they are accused 
of dishonoring God. Instead of holding their cases before 
God for his answer and seal, they accept the statement 
of the evangelist or his helpers that the work is done. 
For the sake of your soul do not listen to such things, 
but be sure you obtain the experience before you testify 
to it. 

Many other things might be mentioned but let these 
suffice. The essential thing is to be sure you have proper 
motives in seeking this high state of grace. Certain it is 
that the enemy will accuse and buffet you, and constantly 
accuse you of wrong motives ; but when such things appear, 
to the best of your ability "cleanse your hearts" from them, 
and where you fail for want of strength God will supply 
grace. 

Here are some considerations that ought to induce 
you to be importunate in your pleadings for deliverance. 

God has told you to "grow in grace." There is little 
room for doubt that in your lack of entire sanctification 
the time will come when you will lose the ability to 
obey this command until you are sanctified wholly — when 
God will put no more of his Spirit in the unclean re- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 37 

ceptacle. He commands you to go up and possess the land, 
and if you fail to obey quickly, to that extent you are dis- 
pleasing God. While we would not compare the experi- 
ence that follows such a failure to Israel's wilderness 
walk, with all its backslidings and rebellions, yet in some 
ways there is a resemblance. At times you will pray clear 
up to the highest place you ever held, then through the 
carelessness and sluggishness of your soul you will slip 
back, not into condemnation, for that is caused by actual 
sin, but into a gloomy, indefinite place, where you feel 
keenly that you are not all you should be. You may mean- 
while attend camp-meetings and other general services ; 
light accumulates, but grace is stagnated. Time and again 
you resolve to know more of God, but as often you are 
forced to say, "I cannot do the things I would." While 
you may not actually be retrograding, yet, as from time 
to time you compare present attainments with your light 
and your ability to follow the pillar of fire, you are 
tempted to think you are losing ground. This is not a 
necessary experience, since there are some striking ex- 
ceptions ; and you can go right on from the time you are 
converted, without a halt, into the promised land. And 
who would venture to say that this would not be the 
better way? Why should you cheat yourself out of months, 
or even years, of victory and be going the rounds of such 
conflicts when God calls you to holiness? Reader, if you 
are not already in the old treadmill round, keep out of it, 
and get the victory right away that the Lord has for you. 
To those who are already going the rounds of the wilder- 
ness, and who have not teachers to show them the "more 
excellent way," we would say, there is hope for you if 
you seize your opportunity. 

One man said, "I used to pray for light, but I quit that, 
for I have more light than I know what to do with." 
Here is the secret of failure; if you cannot walk in all 
the light you have, one of two things is true, either God's 
grace is not sufficient for his demands, or you fail to get 



38 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

the grace that he intends you to have in order that you 
may fulfil his demands. 

Let us repeat and thus enforce the fact, that the time 
will eventually come when you can grow no more, or at 
the best but very little, until you are cleansed from inbred 
sin. That you may have power to fulfil the command to 
"grow in grace" is thus seen to be an incentive to seek 
holiness. When you are cleansed grace has free course ; 
all the hindrances to its growth are gone, and you will 
be surprised at your ability to mount heavenward. 
Fletcher says : "A perfect Christian grows far more than 
a feeble believer, whose growth is still obstructed by the 
shady thorns of sin, and the draining suckers of iniquity." 

Again, as a general thing God cannot trust you with 
much of his power while your heart is unclean, for he 
knows and you know that you would consume it on your 
lusts. He is a jealous God and demands all the glory 
himself. He knows you are not worthy of any such thing, 
and that if you had it, it would spoil you; and so like a 
wise parent, he refuses to give you the thing that will 
cause your ruin. Although Paul had an exalted ex- 
perience in holiness, yet, "through the abundance of the 
revelations given him," he was in danger of making ship- 
wreck of faith, and God, to prevent such a calamity, gave 
him "a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet" 
him. See to it that your heart is cleansed, and God will 
fill you with his power and grace, even if he does have to 
give you a thorn in the flesh to keep you from being 
exalted above measure through the abundance of your 
revelations. 

While your heart is unclean you are unable properly to 
do the things that will glorify God. Your soul is weakened. 
Carnality saps your spiritual vitality, and at times you 
feel as weak as water. As you see your present lack of 
grace, and of ability to do these things Which you are 
convinced God would have you to do to glorify him, 
earnestly cry out, "O God, deliver my soul ;" and "deliver- 
ance will come." 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 39 

In your present condition you are, to some extent at 
least, displeasing God. He cannot look upon sin with any 
allowance. He will send the unrepentant sinner to hell 
because of his sins. While by having your sins forgiven 
you have escaped the fires of hell, yet you often feel, as some 
unclean tendency of your soul asserts itself, that because 
of this uncleanness God is justly displeased. You are not 
condemned, but you do not please God as you feel you 
should. God wants a clean, a perfect sacrifice. But your 
sacrifice is tainted; it is unclean. The psalmist called 
upon all within him to bless the Lord; but you cannot thus 
bless him, since carnality will not praise the Lord. The 
commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart ; 
but in your present condition you cannot do it, for there 
are remaining involuntary clingings to sin that are con- 
trary to love. You love, but your love is mixed. The 
Rev. J. A. Wood, in "Purity and Maturity," says: "While 
the merely regenerate loves God supremely — above all else 
or every other object (to do less would be idolatry), he 
cannot love God with all his heart, until he is entirely 
sanctified ; or so long as the remaining carnality, or 'in- 
bred sin' as it is usually called, is not removed. This in- 
ward foe — the 'carnal mind,' which is 'enmity against 
God,' must be expelled before perfect love can be pos- 
sessed or enjoyed." 

Desire to be like God should be an incentive to seeking 
holiness. When you get a glimpse of the amazing holiness 
of God and turn to yourself and scrutinize in the light 
of this holiness your own uncleanness, you may well ex- 
claim with Isaiah, "I am a man of unclean lips;" or, like 
the lepers of old, you may well cover your lips and cry 
aloud, "Unclean, unclean." When you reach this place 
you will earnestly pray: 

"O for a heart to praise my God, 
A heart from sin set free ; 
A heart that always feels thy blood, 
So freely spilt for me. 



40 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

"Oh for a lowly, contrite heart, 
Believing, true and clean ; 
Which neither life nor death can part, 
From him that dwells within. 

"A heart in every thought renewed. 
And full of love divine ; 
Perfect, and right, and pure and good, 
A copy, Lord, of thine. 

"Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart, 
Come quickly from above ; 
Write thy new name upon my heart ; 
Thy new, best name of love." 

Once more, the interests of dying men and women 
demand that you be made "perfect in love." On every 
hand sounds the Macedonian cry, "Come over and help 
us." Nothing honors God like a clean vessel through which 
may pour the living streams of salvation. Missionaries 
need it, not only to run the gauntlet of sin and wicked- 
ness, but, above all, that they may effectively point the 
heathen to the holy Lamb of God. Preachers need it, not 
only to run the gauntlet of praise and censure, but to 
convince the gainsayers. Laymen need it, that they may 
the better let their light so shine before men that, seeing 
their good works, men may glorify our Father in heaven. 
Yea, the whole world needs it, that they may meet God 
in peace, and not call for the rocks and mountains to hide 
them from the Judge of quick and dead. 

If you will honestly search the field, you will find 
reasons without number that should urge you forward 
with all your ransomed powers. Gather them up and 
put them in one side of the balance ; then in the other side 
place every contrary thing, and see which is the more 
weighty, which is the more deserving of your immortal 
energies. On one side you will find delight in the praise 
of men, the desire of the world, the festering, gnawing 
canker-worms of the soul, reeking with moral filth, a 
veritable "body of death," steeped in blood-guiltiness like 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 41 

Judas of old, the ^old man" of sin refusing allegiance to 
the King of Peace and rebelling to the bitter end against 
stacking arms before Immanuel's triumphant march. On 
the other side how changed. Love, that crowning grace 
of redemption, holds unlimited sway ; joys immortal bud 
and blossom amid the thorns and thistles of earthly sor- 
row ; quietness and confidence ride peacefully above the 
turbulent waves of earthly strife; hope, the perennial 
flower of Paradise, springs up amid the despair and melan- 
choly of failure and defeat, causing the soul to sing and 
make such melody on broken lyres as drives away all 
discord forever. O Joy ! O Peace ! O Love ! almost un- 
known on this vile earth, but spring ye forth in the depths 
of my longing soul, and draw me as with cords celestial 
to regions where ye do bloom unfading and eternal ! Ye 
are my choice — my unchanging, my immortal choice ! 

Here are motives, which, if pondered well and allowed 
to determine your choice, will bring you to where you shall 

walk with U'w in white, even in this present world, 



CHAPTER VII. 



HINDRANCES. 



When clear light begins to shine on the heart of the 
candidate for holiness, a great struggle is often experienced 
in getting definitely at the work. Sloth and indifference 
bind the soul as with fetters of brass. Persons 
who in other matters could rightfully repudiate the 
charge of laziness are so overcome with spiritual sloth 
that they put off seeking for the greatest boon ever granted 
to man, for even years ; or at best, they seek only in- 
differently. Of course, it is hard for them to realize that 
this is their true condition ; but it is, nevertheless. 

Nearly everybody is naturally lazy in some particular. 
The boy whom the farmer calls lazy is by the school 
teacher considered the most studious boy in the school, 
and vice versa. Set one to doing the things he likes to do, 
and he will work hard, while in other matters he works 
sluggishly. No one likes to delve down through the strata 
of carnality to press his way against sloth, indifference, 
and his own moral inertia, and force the matter to an 
issue. It goes "against the grain." You may set before 
his mind the most glorious promises of God's word, and 
the richest, juiciest fruits of Canaan as his, if he will 
seek, and still the dead weight of his own soul will hinder 
him until he will be forced to "storm the gates of strife," if 
he makes any headway, and will feel that like Samson, 
he has the gates of Gaza on his back ; and also that, like 
Reuben, his strength is "unstable as wr.ter." Let us note 
some of the signs of spiritual sloth. 

1. Lack of interest in prayer. The duty of prayer- 
appears to be irksome; time thus spent drags heavily, and 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 43 

the secret place is left with an almost unconscious sigh 
of relief with gladness that the duty is done. Then the 
man will plunge into business with a zest that convinces 
every one of his earnestness. 

2. Another sign of sloth is absence of desire for and 
delight in the house of God. If in this state you can 
easily find excuses for absence from prayer and class 
meetings. 

3. Indifference about the salvation of one's friends 
"and neighbors, and that to such an extent that we seldom, 

if ever, call on them, or pray with them when we do call, 
or even mention the salvation of their souls, also arises 
from spiritual sloth. One can see the vineyard of God 
lying waste, growing up to weeds, and the stone wall 
thereof crumbling in ruins, and feel little concern. Such 
souls think the preacher and class leader ought to work 
harder, and criticize them for their lack of effort, while 
doing nothing themselves. 

4. Procrastination indicates a slothful spirit. When the 
slothful soul attends holiness meetings he fears lest an 
altar call be given or a test proposed; and if the call is 
given, he says inwardly, 'I want the experience, but tlie effort 
to obtain it is too great, I will wait till some other time." 
A lazy man generally intends to do the thing required, 
but the effort to do it now is too great, and he is only wait- 
ing till he feels like it ; and, meanwhile, he dies a pauper, 
and is buried in the potter's field. 

5. One great ruse of the enemy to induce people to 
delay is to suggest that they must wait the Lord's time. 
That they must in this way be taught some new lesson 
or killed out to a hurried spirit. What strange things the 
enemy of souls can get us to believe! When the soul is 
cleansed it will then be dead to both carnal hurry and 
carnal sloth. This idea of waiting is virtually an attempt 
to deliver ourselves independent of the blood; to get the 
work done without the trouble of getting God's help ; to 
bring about the end desired without using the God-ap- 
pointed means ; expecting something to "turn up," looking 



44 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

for our fortunes on the sidewalk instead of rolling up our 
sleeves and making them. Draggers are below par in 
this world ; we need pushers ; and especially is this true 
in religious matters in this Laodicean age. Oh, this round 
of waiting, wishing, hoping, expecting, desiring, but never 
obtaining! Quit it now, lay hold of the promises, and your 
legal years will be ended. God says, "Behold, now is the 
accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." Avail 
thyself of his blessing now by faith and hope. 

As Wesley says, "You shall not be disappointed of your 
hope ; it will come, and will not tarry. Look for it every 
day, every hour, every moment. Why not this hour — this 
moment? Certainly you may look for it now, if you be- 
lieve it is by faith." 

This same temptation is sometimes presented in another 
form, with the suggestion that some other time will do. 
The fact that the soul is saved, has peace with God, and 
feels no condemnation, is liable to be used as an excuse 
for lack of immediate action. Condemnation would be an 
incentive to action, but the very assurance of safety is 
liable to be used as a plank to slide into indifference or 
open rebellion. Apply Wesley's translation of 1 Cor. 10 :12 
to your case : "Let him that assuredly standeth take heed 
lest he fall." 

Opportunities fly like the wind, and must be caught in 
passing or they are gone forever. God says, "Now is the 
accepted time." Do you believe what God says? Then 
act accordingly. There is little room for doubt that the 
longer you stand in the place you now occupy the harder 
it will be to pray out. If your soul is in a growing con- 
dition it is well, and you will, it may be, keep approaching 
the prize; but the time will come sooner or later when you 
must put forth an extra effort or you will settle back into 
a hard, calloused condition which it will take all the powers 
of your being to break through. So the wise thing is to 
take the present as the best opportunity and see to it that 
the work is done. 

6. Another plan taken by the carnal heart to keep 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 45 

one from facing the issue is to induce him to look and 
wait for a more favorable opportunity. This is a common 
trouble and one which must be guarded against. When 
in meeting, an altar call is given, the suggestion comes, 
"Wait till you get home." When at home "the cares of 
this life" come pressing in, and hour after hour passes, 
and the earnestness and determination felt in meeting 
are soon gone ; and then when you do go to pray, you feel 
dry, the heavens are frozen over, and the enemy says, 
"You must wait until meeting again." Or, if you should 
seek your closet as soon as you get home you are con- 
stantly distracted with thoughts of this or that which 
must be done until your mind is completely diverted, and 
you are helpless. What shall you do? First, stop yield- 
ing to such suggestions. Then seize the first chance as 
God-given, and force your way through. Stop yielding 
to circumstances, and make circumstances of your own. 
Now is God's time; these surroundings were permitted 
by God, and you can make them all work for your good 
and to your salvation. 

7. The next thing likely to keep you from immediate 
action is the thought that certain persons are not at hand 
to pray for you. You have great confidence in the prayers 
of certain ones, and it may be that your confidence is 
not misplaced ; but you must not lean too much on the 
arm of flesh. True it is that God generally employs human 
instrumentalities in the work of salvation, yet he is not 
confined to any certain one, and can, if he chooses, work 
independent of any. There have been cases where seekers 
have set their eyes on certain persons and thought if they 
could obtain their aid they would be cleansed. There is 
sometimes a good deal of the spirit of Naaman in this. 
They want the prophet to pronounce words over them, 
lay his hand on their head, and say the word of salvation. 
They would be greatly disappointed if he would tell them- 
just to go and wash in the sin-cleansing Jordan, and 
promise them that if they did they would be made whole. 
But it may be possible that if you get with the person you 



46 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

so desire to see, that God will not let him help you; and 
that if he does attempt to do so he will hinder more than 
help. It is neither Paul nor Apollos nor Cephas, but 
Christ that does the work. 

Still you may say, "All this is true, but I have 'no 
one that is likeminded' to help me. I am all alone in the 
community. There are no holiness people, and if I should 
even mention the longings of my heart, they would think 
I had lost my mind." Yours is indeed a sad lot, but there 
is help. Let us quote the words of the saintly Fletcher 
addressed to such as you : 

"But perhaps thou art alone. As a solitary bird which 
sitteth on the housetop, thou lookest for a companion who 
may go with thee through the deepest travail of the re- 
generation. But alas ! thou lookest in vain : all the pro- 
fessors about thee seem satisfied with their former ex- 
periences, and with self-imputed or self-conceited perfec- 
tion. When thou givest them a hint of thy want of power 
from on high, and of thy hunger and thirst after a fulness 
of righteousness, they do not sympathize with thee. And in- 
deed how can they? They are full already; they reign with- 
out thee ; they have need of nothing. They do not sensibly 
want that God would grant them according to the riches of 
his glory, to be strengthened with might in the inner man, 
that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that they, 
being rooted and grounded in love, may comprehend with 
all saints (perfected in love) what is the breadth, and 
length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of 
Christ which passeth knowledge, that they might be filled 
with all the fulness of God (Eph. 3:16, etc). They look upon 
thee as a whimsical person, full of singular notions, and 
they rather dampen than enliven thy hopes. Thy circum- 
stances are sad; but do not give place to despair, no, not 
for a moment. In the name of Christ, who could not get 
even Peter, James, and John, to watch with him one hour; 
and who was obliged to go ' through his agony alone ; — in 
his name, I say, 'Cast not away thy confidence, which has 
great recompense of reward.' Under all thy discourage- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 47 

ments, remember that, after all, divine grace is not con-, 
fined to numbers, any more than to a few. When all out- 
ward helps fail thee, make the more of Christ, on whom 
sufficient help is laid for thee — Christ, who says, 'I will 
go with thee through fire and water;' the former shall 
not burn thee, nor the latter drown thee. Jacob was alone 
when he wrestled with the angel, yet he prevailed; and 
if the servant is not above his master, wonder not that it 
should be said of thee, as of thy Lord, when he went 
through his greatest temptations, 'Of the people there was 
none with him.' " 

8. Spiritual sloth manifests itself in some people in 
half-hearted seeking. They keep at it steadily enough 
but never seem to make any headway. Their efforts are 
sluggish and lacking in the spirit of real importunity. They 
can be depended upon to be at every camp-meeting or 
holiness convention, and to be down at the altar praying 
the same old prayer for sanctification. Perhaps it is bet- 
ter to do this than not to seek at all, better to be at every 
altar service than to be altogether indifferent. Die trying, 
if necessary ; but there is one thing you can depend upon, 
this easy-going, half-hearted way must be broken up if 
you ever obtain the experience. Jesus said, "The king- 
dom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take 
it by force." Bestir yourself. Get out of this rut. It may 
be that you are so "settled on your lees" that it will take 
a mighty effort to do so. But settle it that the work must 
be done. Do something desperate, if necessary, in order 
to stir up your sluggish soul. Proclaim a fast, drop every- 
thing else that you possibly can, and launch out after God. 
Victory will come. 

9. Still others seek like a colt or a balky horse pull- 
ing at a load — by jerks. To see them lean over, strain 
every muscle, and jerk at the load you would think some- 
thing must come. The traces and whiffletrees seem to be in 
danger, but nothing will be harmed, at least nothing will 
move. So with some seekers ; at times they seem to pray 
earnestly, and people looking on are greatly encouraged. 



48 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

They throw back their heads, swing their arms like a 
wind-mill, sweat and holler till the veins of their necks 
swell out, fall over on the floor and cry, "Sanctify me, 
sanctify me" at the top of their voices; but lo, they run 
against some carnal tendency, and, instead of confessing 
it out, they either stop seeking or try to thresh through 
without meeting the light (trying to pound their way 
around the cross), and, failing in this, they back down 
and become indifferent and lazy for a season, and, it 
may be, backslide. After a while they take a fresh start ; 
and so the process is repeated again and again. The way 
for such persons to do is to force themselves to the cross, 
not boisterously, but with determination; and calmly and 
intelligently hold themselves up against the white light: 
of heaven. They may not make so much noise, but the 
clear light of heaven will purge out every vestige of 
carnality till they are pure within, like gold tried in the 
fire. Rev. B. T. Roberts says, "The best way to seek 
holiness is to seek it." Get at it, and keep at it till the vic- 
tory comes. "Keeping everlastingly at it brings success." 

As soon as you settle the question that you will seek 
and seek earnestly, you will be harassed by the enemy 
with all sorts of suggestions. Some of them will be seem- 
ingly harmless, some the most vicious possible; some of 
them will be open, with the acknowledgement that they 
are from the devil, while others will be underhanded and 
deceitful. He will step to your side and, if possible, fill 
your mind with fearful thoughts of distrust and unbelief, 
and cause you to stagger in your decision. There is little 
doubt that he hates holiness more than any other thing, 
and, as a consequence, will level his most destructive en- 
ginery at this point. But faith in God will make you in- 
vulnerable to all his fiery darts. Let us notice some of his 
must successful suggestions: 

"God will not cleanse the heart." He is now perfectly 
willing that you should believe in justification, but is 
very solicitous lest you should deceive yourself and seek 
holiness. But this one passage should be enough to settle 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 49 

your mind on this point and forever put to rout the father 
of lies : "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; 
and I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and -body 
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" 
(1 Thess. 5:23, 24). Such a prayer, followed by such a 
"faithful promise" ought to convince the most stubborn 
heart that knows anything of God's power. 

Failing here the enemy will say : "Yes, God can and 
does cleanse, but will not cleanse you." Anything suits 
him but to make the matter of salvation personal. The 
passage quoted above is personal, and is a promise that 
YOU may be cleansed. Akin to the foregoing suggestion 
is the thought which is sometimes suggested that none 
but the apostles ever had or ever can have such an ex- 
perience. But there is no place in God's word where even 
an intimation is given that such gifts should depart from 
the church. On the contrary it sparkles with encouraging 
promises of the graces of holiness to be given to all who 
believe. Jesus said, "Neither pray I for these alone, but 
for them also which shall believe on me through their 
word" (Jno. 17:20) ; and, strange to say, he was speaking 
of sanctification, having said just before, "Sanctify them 
through thy truth." You and I are among the chosen num- 
ber, for we believe the words of the apostles left for us in 
the New Testament. 

Then the enemy will suggest, "Yea, he will cleanse you, 
but not until just before you die." God fully appreciated 
the fact that it would be hard for the unbelieving human 
heart to grasp the fact that he would actually cleanse it 
from all carnality in this world, and so to help our faith, 
not only by promise, but also by his immutable oath, he 
lifted up his hand and swore by himself (for he could 
swear by no greater)," that we might be holy not only at 
death, but all the days of our life. Read these wonderful 
words given from the lips of Zacharias while under the 
inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and recorded by Luke 
(Chapter 1 :73 to 75) : "The oath which he sware to our 



50 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

father Abraham, that he would grant us, that we being 
delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve 
him * without fear, in holiness and righteousness before 
him, all the days of our life." 

Again the enemy says : "Your heart is too treacherous, 
you cannot get it in the attitude before God where it can 
be cleansed." But your heart is just like the hearts of 
others : they have conquered by the grace of God, and 
you can do the same. The following, from Horatius Bonar, 
is to the point here: "Do not keep back from Christ 
under the idea that you must come to him in a disinterested 
frame, and from a strictly unselfish motive. If you are 
right in this thing, who can be saved? You are to come 
as you are; with all your bad motives, whatever these 
may be. [That is, involuntary motives are wrong; if 
not what would be the use in seeking any more grace? but 
the reai motives must be acceptable to God: or you will 
"ask and receive not."] Take all your bad motives ; add 
them to the number of your sins, and bring them all to 
the altar where the great sacrifice is lying. Go to the 
mercy seat. Tell the High Priest there, not what you 
desire to be, nor what you ought to be, but what you are. 
Tell him the honest truth as to your condition at this mo- 
ment. Confess the impurity of your motives; all the evil 
that you feel, or that you don't feel ; your hard-hearted- 
ness, your blindness, your unteachableness. Confess every- 
thing without reserve. He wants you to come to him 
exactly as you are, and not cherish the vain thought that, 
by a little waiting, or working, or praying, you can make 
yourself fit, or persuade him to make you fit." 

Then at times the enemy takes the opposite extreme, 
and says: "You are so indifferent that it is impossible 
that you should lay hold of God for cleansing." Be it 
so, your very indifference is an excuse for coming to God, 
and it is the glory of his divinity to wake you and take 
away your indifference. Fletcher says to come to God by 
faith, "bringing nothing with you but a careless, distract- 
ed, tossed, hardened heart, — just such a heart as you have 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 51 

got now." Confess your indifference and God will help 
you. Some one has testified thus : "How reasonable 
that we should just do that one small act which God re- 
quires of us, go and tell him the truth. I used to go and 
say, 'Lord, I am a sinner, do have mercy on me ;' but as 
I did not feel all this, I began to see that I was taking 
a lie in my hand, trying to persuade the Almighty that I 
felt things which I did not feel. These prayers and con- 
fessions brought me no comfort, no answer, so at last I 
changed my tone, and began to tell the truth — 'Lord, I do 
not feel myself a sinner ; I do not feel that I need mercy.' 
Now all was right ; the sweetest reception, the most loving 
encouragements, the most refreshing answers, this con- 
fession of the truth brought down from heaven. I did 
not get anything by declaring myself a sinner, for I felt 
it not ; but I obtained everything by confessing that I did 
not see myself one." 

If he fails in every other attempt the devil may be 
successful in trying to get you to grow into the experience. 
But you might as well try to grow weeds out of your 
garden as to grow the carnal nature out of your heart. 
But you think grace by being constantly cultivated will 
so increase that it will kill out sin. Greater grace by 
its having greater ability to do right may weaken the power 
of sin, but it takes an especial act of divine grace to kill the 
sin. If not, it is not done by God but by ourselves. The 
following from Wesley is to the point : "Four or five and 
forty years ago, when I had no distinct views of what 
the apostle meant by exhorting us to leave the principles 
of the doctrine of Christ, and go on to perfection, two 
or three persons in London whom I knew to be truly sin- 
cere, desired to give me an account of their experience. 
It seemed exceeding strange, being different from any 
that I had heard before. * * * The next year, two or three 
more in Bristol, and two or three in Kingswood, coming 
to me severally, gave me exactly the same account of 
their experience. A few years after, I desired all those 
in London, who made the same profession, to come to me 



52 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

all together at the Foundry, that I might be thoroughly 
satisfied. I desired that man of God, Thomas Walsh, to 
give us the meeting there. When we met, first one of us, 
and then the other, asked the most searching questions 
we could devise. They answered every one without hesi- 
tation, and with the utmost simplicity, so that we were 
fully persuaded they did not deceive themselves. In the 
years 1759, 1760, 1761 and 1762, their number multiplied 
exceedingly, not only in London and Bristol, but in various 
parts of Ireland as well as England. Not trusting to the 
testimony of others, I carefully examined the most of 
these myself; and in London alone, I found six hundred 
and fifty-two members of our society, who were exceed- 
ingly clear in their experience, and of whose testimony 
I could see no reason to doubt. I believe no year has 
passed since that time, wherein God has not wrought 
the same work in many others ; but sometimes in one part 
of England or Ireland, sometimes in another; — as 'the 
wind bloweth where it listeth ;' — and every one of these 
(after the most careful inquiry, I have not found one ex- 
ception either in Great Britain or Ireland) has declared 
that his deliverance from sin was instantaneous; that the 
change was wrought in a moment. Had half of these, or 
one-third, or one in twenty, declared it was gradually 
wrought in them, I should have believed this, with regard 
to them, and thought that some were gradually sanctified 
and some instantaneously. But as I have not found, in so 
long a space of time, a single person speaking thus; as 
all who believe they are sanctified, declare with one voice, 
that the change was wrought in a moment, I cannot but 
believe that sanctification is commonly, if not always, an 
instantaneous work." 

To the foregoing quotation let us add one from Fletcher, 
one of the most remarkable men of early Methodism : "If 
our hearts be purified by faith, as the scriptures ex- 
pressly testify ; if the faith which peculiarly purifies the 
hearts of Christians be a faith in the 'promise of the 
Father,' which promise was made by the Son and directly 



LESSONS FOR SEEKEKS OF HOLINESS 53 

points at a peculiar effusion of the Holy Ghost, the puri- 
fier of spirits ; if we may believe in a moment ; and if 
God only may, in a moment, seal our sanctifying faith by' 
sending us of his sanctifying Spirit : if this, I say, be the 
case, does it not follow, that to deny the possibility of the 
instantaneous destruction of sin, is to deny, contrary to 
scripture and to fact, that we can make an instantaneous 
act of faith in the sanctifying promise of the Father, and 
in the all-cleansing blood of the Son, and that God can 
seal the act by the instantaneous operation of his Spirit? 
* * * This is not all. If you deny the possibility of the 
quick destruction of indwelling sin, you send to hell, or 
to some unscriptural purgatory, not only the dying thief, 
but also all those martyrs who suddenly embraced the Chris- 
tian faith, and were instantly put to death by bloody per- 
secutors for confessing the faith which they had just em- 
braced. And if you allow that God may 'cut his work 
short in righteousness' and in such case, why not in other 
cases? Why not, especially when a believer confesses his 
indwelling sin, ardently prays Christ would, and sincerely 
believes that Christ can, 'now cleanse him from all un- 
righteousness?' " 

The accusations and suggestions mentioned above, to- 
gether with numerous others, may be used by the enemy 
to hinder you from seeking and obtaining the "promise of 
the Father," but, as with Bunyan's pilgrim, the only safe 
way for you to do is to "put your fingers in your ears 
and run" crying, "Life! life! eternal life!" and never stop 
till you reach the goal of your endeavors. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CONVICTION. 



God is not a thief, and so he will never take away the 
carnality of our hearts without our knowledge and con- 
sent ; nor is he a robber, and hence he will not force us to 
give it up ; neither is he a deceitful Being, therefore he 
will not cleanse us from it unless we know what we are 
yielding. When we see the fairness of his demands, and 
give our willing consent, he will give us purity in the 
place of the uncleanness he takes away. Hence the Holy 
Spirit reveals sin as far as possible in all its heinousness, 
until the soul gladly makes the exchange. As God sent 
hornets and made the Canaanites glad to leave their coun- 
try, so the Holy Ghost with convictions like hornets, dis- 
turbs the soul until it yields gladly to the death of self. 

Many people have wrong ideas of the conviction neces- 
sary in seeking holiness. Some think it is simply a knowl- 
edge that we need such an experience; others that it is 
a feeling that if it is not obtained we will be lost ; still 
others that it is some strange sensation which seizes us 
and impels us toward God, or so impresses us that we 
know now is the time to seek ; yet others that because God 
commands we are to obey without any feeling; and yet 
others an intellectual realization that we are unclean, 
and hence must be cleansed. But all these conceptions 
fall below the mark. Wesley, after a wonderful description 
of a soul's view of the workings of the carnal mind, adds: 
"In this sense we are to repent, after we are justified, 
(Using the word 'repent' in the same sense as we shall 
use 'conviction.") And till we do so, we can go no farther. 
For, till we are sensible of our disease, it admits of no 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 55 

cure." Again he says : "A deep conviction that we are 
not yet whole ; that our hearts are not fully purified ; that 
there is yet in us a 'carnal mind/ which is still in its 
nature 'enmity against God,' that a whole body of sin 
remains in our hearts, weakened indeed, but not destroyed ; 
show, beyond all possibility of doubt, the absolute necessity 
of a further change. * * * We still retain a depth of sin : 
and it is the consciousness of this which constrains us to 
groan for a full deliverance, to him that is mighty to save. 
Hence it is, that those believers who are not convinced 
of the deep corruption of their hearts, or but slightly, 
and, as it were, notionally convinced, have little concern 
about entire sanctification. They may possibly hold the 
opinion that such a thing is to be, either at death, or 
some time, they know not when, before it. But they 
have no great uneasiness for the want of it, and no great 
hunger or thirst after it. They cannot, until they know 
themselves better, until they repent in the sense above 
described, until God unveils the inbred monster's face, and 
shows them the real state of their souls. Then only, when 
they feel the burden, will they groan for deliverance from 
it. Then, and not till then, will they cry out, in the agony 
of their soul, — 

"Break off the yoke of inbred sin, 
And fully set my spirit free ! 
I cannot rest till pure within ; 

Till I am wholly lost in thee!" 

Such we believe with Wesley is the conviction necessary 
to intelligently seek cleansing: — a clear conception of what 
the evil nature is from which you pray to be delivered — 
its deep, deceitful workings, and the danger if it is not 
taken away. 

Dr. Jesse T. Peck, in "The Central Idea of Christianity," 
says: "But let us not be superficial. Whatever is valu- 
able in religion must be grounded in conviction. * * * Con- 
viction is a law term. It implies that the accused has 



56 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

been arrested, tried, and condemned — brought in guilty 
of the crime alleged against hini in tbe indictment. 

"But in theology this term has a special sense. It is 
the work of the Holy Spirit, imparting to the soul positive 
evidence of its guilt, its depravity, and its exposures. * * * 

"But there is a conviction of inward impurity — of 'sin 
in believers,' which is eminently the work of the Holy 
Spirit. Depravity of the heart, however concealed, cannot 
remain long concealed. Its first motions, as we have seen, 
are felt with surprise by the truly regenerated. They 
produce more or less of pain and exposure, but if properly 
resisted, they do not bring a feeling of guilt upon a spirit 
trusting in Christ. Further experience, however, shows 
that the life of the Christian is to be almost a continual 
battle, not merely with outward foes, but with himself. 
The recognition of these inward wrongs will depend not 
only upon what they are, but upon the habit of attention 
to the state of the soul, and the degree of divine influence 
secured by the cooperation of the human agent. The truly 
devout man will, however, frequently find his attention 
silently but powerfully drawn to these inward impurities. 
Sometimes when, so far as his consciousness reports, no 
train of reflection has led to it ; — in the midst of passing 
engagements, and of other thoughts, the conviction will 
flash upon him suddenly, and he will feel like hiding him- 
self from the sight of men, burying his face in the dust, 
and crying out for deliverance. At other times this sense 
of wrong tendencies assumes an amazing distinctness in 
the midst of spiritual exercises, and even of powerful 
outpourings of the Holy Spirit. This cannot be due to un- 
prompted reason. Left merely to ourselves, we would sen- 
sibly or insensibly yield to the rising evil, and allow the con- 
quest of the heart by its own subjugated foes. Whatever in- 
fluence we may attribute to the associations of the hour, 
and the habits of life, they are not sufficient to account 
for the searching light that breaks in upon the soul, and 
the power which humbles it to the dust. The great Re- 
prover 'of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,' is there 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 57 

ir. the faithfulness and authority of God, performing the 
work for which he has appeared among men. 

"These convictions, let it be expressly stated, differ from 
those felt by the unpardoned sinner. They are convictions 
of inward depravity, and not of guilt ; they are connected 
with- felt aversion to the impurity recognized, and a con- 
scious dependence upon the Savior's merits for gracious 
acceptance ; they produce pain, but not condemnation ; they 
are not infrequently strongest in the midst of fervent 
spirit-pleadings for gracious influence, and increase with 
the advance of the soul in its longings after God, and in 
the elements of higher Christian life." 

When you sought God for pardon, if you really obtained 
it, you saw that you were a sinner condemned of God. 
Your past life loomed up before you, the Spirit pointed 
to one sin after another, and, as he thus revealed them, 
you groaned and wept and confessed to God, and to men 
also, if they had been wronged. Your sins looked hateful 
to you because they separated you from God. But now 
you seek cleansing from the "inbred monster" that has 
troubled you all through your Christian life, kept you from 
mounting into God, from living as humbly and walking 
as carefully as you in your inmost soul knew was your 
privilege ; and which, in short, has lain like a treacherous 
vampire at the fountain of your heaven-brought experience, 
and continued its unwelcome existence by drawing from 
your spiritual vitality, leaving you weak and at times al- 
most helpless in consequence. Now you see its real nature, 
and are forced to cry out for deliverance. This is the 
rational definition of conviction for cleansing. It arises 
from the soul's intelligent apprehension of its unclean 
condition and pressing need, and is not a mere fanciful 
idea of some vague blessing God has promised to give. 

But there are thousands of persons who seek, and even 
profess, the experience of holiness who have never thus 
seen their hearts, and who have very vague ideas, if any 
at all, of what real deliverance from inbred sin means, of 
what real holiness is. Many of them, no doubt, are honest, 



58 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

and, if they but clearly saw what they should do, would 
gladly do it; but because their teachers have led them 
wrong, they are in the dark, making a loud profession, 
and, in their works, denying the power of God. Although 
there may be exceptions to the rule, yet we are convinced, 
both from the study of the doctrine and from the history 
of the holiness work, that the foregoing type of conviction 
is necessary in order to obtain a genuine experience. Every 
method possible may be tried without this conviction, and 
because of its lack the soul will land somewhere short 
of the work of grace needed. Here is the great failure 
in much of the holiness teaching and profession of to-day 
— a great lack of light on the conditions and needs of the 
soul. Faith is preached until, apparently, nothing more 
can be said; theories are spun until they are worn thread- 
bare; but comparatively few in the power and sweetness 
of the Holy Ghost probe into the depths of inbred unclean- 
ness, and bring to view the hidden chambers of imagery, 
the Achans, the Agags, and the Ishmaels of the soul. 

Every method possible may be tried without this con- 
viction, but to no effect. We knew a young man who at 
different times fasted and prayed for deliverance from 
inbred corruption, neither eating not drinking for six 
or seven days at a time, but to no avail. At length he 
stopped long enough for God to speak, and was directed by 
the Spirit to hold still and not seek until the Lord should 
direct. Now notice the way God took to help a soul that 
was honest, and also what God considered his needs. For 
some time he went along blest and free, enjoying himself 
in God. Finally, one night after having an exceptionally 
free time in meeting, he felt the stirrings of self-glory. 
Immediately the burning finger of God was pointed at 
it, and the Holy Spirit said, "That is carnality." This was 
the first time he had actually known the real nature of 
the carnal mind. This was the entering wedge. Back over 
his Christian experience the Spirit led him, revealing this 
outcropping of self; then the same with another mani- 
festation, till clear, blazing light shone on all the principal 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 59 

phases of the inbred foe, revealing it iu all its iniquitous 
nature. Now it was comparatively easy on his part to 
pray through, for the seeker saw the disease and its 
danger, and was glad to find the only physician who could 
heal. 

If preachers would but faithfully let the light shine 
in this way, first having their own hearts melted with real 
love, until their hearers would actually feel the burden 
of their unclean hearts, there would be more who would 
obtain the prize. It must be acknowledged that this is 
a slower process, and that the natural heart shrinks from 
being thus exposed; that it will be a source of burden, and 
possibly of misunderstanding, for the preacher. Many 
times his heart will ache, and melt like wax in a furnace; 
but the actual results that follow will repay a thousand 
times. This is the divine plan, and the path followed by 
the worthies of a hundred years ago. 

To-day, however on the contrary, the many so-called 
holiness preachers are holding up before their people the 
glory side of the experience, almost or entirely to the 
exclusion of the "repentance" side. Their sermons are 
stirring, and cause an eagerness for its attainment, but 
as they neglect to tell the steps necessary to be taken, and 
to show the people their actual condition, their efforts 
avail little or nothing, so far as real deliverances are 
concerned. 

A favorite method with such preachers is to work on 
the fears of their listeners ; preach elaborate sermons on 
what the experience will do for a person, and, when they 
get the people to trembling because they do not possess 
it, turn the battery, and tell them they will go to hell # if 
they do not get it ; that without it they will eventually 
backslide ; that without it they cannot see God ; or tempt 
their appetites with the sight of the delicious fruit of 
Canaan, and, when they are all wrought up, promise it 
to them if they will only believe. 

If one retains a clear experience of justification, there 
is no doubt but that sooner or later light will shine on 



60 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

his heart, and when it really does shine, there will be very 
little need of such exhortations. He will be seeking it 
everywhere. If one does need such talk to cause him to 
move, he is either not clearly saved, or sufficient light 
has not been shed on his trouble to make him see his 
need. In either case he needs different treatment. Let 
the preacher or teacher thoroughly probe the seat of the 
trouble, and, if the man is honest, he will soon be so 
aroused as to move out in earnest after full redemption. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONVICTION CONCLUDED. 

Reader, if clear light has not shone on your heart and 
revealed the depths of depravity still lurking there, you 
can undoubtedly obtain such light by following carefully 
these rules : 

1. Pray that God may reveal to you your own heart. 
He has told us that if we lacked wisdom, we are to ask of 
him and he will give "liberally," and not upbraid us for 
our ignorance. Pray earnestly. Wrestle with God. If 
matters seem hard to unravel, fast and pray. Be deter- 
mined that you will obtain. Take no denial. Do not 
slack your efforts, for if you do, you may lose all the 
ground you have attained. 

"Pray — Oh pray," says Dr. Peck, "that he will deign 
to come to your aid. Invite him as your friend — your wel- 
come guest. Beseech him to increase the light that re- 
veals the defect of your Christian state, and uncovers to 
your view the most secret wrongs within you. Invite 
even the anguish, if need be, of the most humiliating self- 
exposures, and shrink not from the rod of correction, 
which shall drive you to the bosom of your only protector. 
Need you again be reminded how far beneath your privilege 
you have lived — how numerous have been the evidences 
of your internal depravity — how frequent have been your 
failures to honor God and advance the interests of his 
cause? Prayer — humble, believing, mighty prayer — prayer 
from your heart — prayer as you walk the streets — prayer 
with your brethren, and especially prayer in the closet — 
long-continued, inquiring, struggling prayer, will help you 
to know yourself better — will bring the special grace of 



62 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

God to your aid. In darkness, in coldness, in hardness, if 
it must be, pray until the subduing, melting grace shall 
be given. 

"Your conviction, to be available, must not be super- 
ficial — must not be the merely ordinary impression, with 
occasional increase, that you are not what you ought to 
be. It must be profound, penetrating, and abiding, or 
you will never make it the starting point of successful 
effort to obtain purity of heart and life." 

2. Hold your heart open to receive light when it comes. 
It will come, if you hold on in this direction. There is 
danger when one thus thinks of searching into his heart 
of an almost unconscious fearfulness of the consequences 
preventing him ; a fear that he will find something he will 
not want to see, or that he will not want to confess. 
Brother, if there is such a secret feeling as this lurking 
in your heart, which comes to your view just long enough 
for you to get a glimpse of it, you have light already. 
That feeling itself is carnality, and that, too, in its most 
treacherous form — carnality, afraid of God and skulking 
away among the bushes to evade inspection. Trace it up, 
and bring it out to the light ; analyze it, and see what 
its real elements are ; go against it, and be determined 
that you will have God's penetrating light to flash through 
and through your heart, no matter w*hat it may reveal. 
Are you in earnest? Then so is God, and God's word for 
it, your needs will come to the light very soon. 

3. Examine carefully and prayerfully the inmost work- 
ings of your soUl. Peck says ; "Again, we beseech you, 
examine your heart with the profoundest sincerity. Nay, 
shrink not from the revelations unfolded to your view. 
Submit to the worst. Whatever the pain — whatever the 
loathing produced by the discovery of the facts, still in- 
vite this discovery. Secure it by every means in your 
power. * * * You will know — you will feel in every part 
of your being — that you are deeply depraved; that you 
cannot remain so ; that you must be holy, or wrong your 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS G3 

own soul, and wrong your Savior whose blood is freely 
offered to cleanse you from all sin." 

On this same point Fletcher says : "Through grace 
detect these evils by close attention to what passes in your 
heart at all times, but especially in an hour of temptation." 

When you do anything, especially if it is out of the 
ordinary, stop as soon as possible and endeavor to find 
out what motive or motives have prompted you. Do not 
flippantly pass it off by saying that you did it for the 
glory of God. It may be you did, and it may be you did 
not. There could have been such a motive, and, along 
with it, a contrary motive, stronger and more influential 
than the right one. Look carefully and honestly. Force 
yourself to look. Nature will rebel, but "through grace" 
you must conquer. If you really want the victory, nature 
must be held to the rack by grace, in spite of its struggles 
and strong cries against such a course. 

At first your motives will, as it were, skulk away, and 
you will have a hard time analyzing them. In fact, you 
cannot do it without the help of the Holy Spirit. They 
are deep-seated, and, as a consequence, they require super- 
natural power to uncover them. This is the reason why 
people hesitate to let the "thoughts of their hearts be re- 
vealed;" there is an almost unconscious knowledge that 
there are motives and desires hidden away in this store- 
house of uncleanness that will make the heart sick when 
they are brought to light. 

Man naturally wants to know the best of his case ; 
but the Holy Ghost is true to him, and will show him 
the very worst. This he will shrink from as long as pos- 
sible. But if you want to be cured, you must let the phy- 
sician probe the wound. The more you object and hold 
back, the longer your trouble will last. If you hold your- 
self still, the work will shortly be done, and you will re- 
joice in the glorious deliverance of the children of God. 
When you decide that the gain will repay you for all 
the seeming loss, and become quiet under the white light 
of heaven, God will begin to speak. 



64 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

One small and seemingly insignificant act will, at times, 
be found to be backed by several motives, until you will 
actually wonder what was the ruling intention, To illus- 
tiate: You give a dollar to some public collection. When 
you hear its hearty jingle in the basket, and realize that 
it has already gone on its way, turn your eyes Inward, 
and see what motives cluster around that single coin. 
You will be surprised when they show up something like 
this : 1. A desire to glorify God. 2. A coveteous feeling, 
that wants the dollar for some other purpose. 3. A desire 
to be seen of men, that you may be applauded. 4. A de- 
sire to excel others in giving. 5. Hope of some kind of 
visible reward for giving to God's cause. 

Again, you have an exceptionally free time in testi- 
mony. After you sit down and the blessing somewhat 
subsides, turn your eyes inward and you will see : 1. Spirit- 
ual pride that exalts itself above or at the expense of God. 

2. Self-glory in your abilities and spiritual attainments. 

3. A secret glory that you are freer than some other per- 
son. 4. Expectation of and reaching out after praise, 
which if no one utters after the meeting, you feel disap- 
pointed, and possibly speak about it yourself. 5. May be 
a little thanksgiving to God. Or, some one else instead of 
you gets the blessing, and now you find : 1. A feeling of 
envy, because they are blest and you are not. 2. A secret 
desire to reach to their measure in blessing. 3. A thought 
of the time you were as much blessed as they. 4. Com- 
plaint against God for leaving you out. 5. Perhaps a 
thought of some wrong, real or imaginary, that the person 
has committed. 6. Some gladness because your brother 
rejoices. 

What an awful spectacle! This is the human heart un- 
sanctified, yet possessing a measure of grace. This is the 
condition which the Spirit will reveal when the heart is 
thrown open for his light to penetrate. 

To promote this deeper knowledge of the workings of 
his own soul, that wonderful man of God, Jonathan Ed- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 05 

wards, among a number of other rules, held himself to 
the following: 

"Resolved: Frequently to take some deliberate action, 
which seems most unlikely to be done for the glory of God, 
and trace it back to the original intention, designs, and 
ends of it; and, if I find it not to be for God's glory, to 
repudiate it as a breech of the fourth resolution [not to 
the glory of God]. 

"Resolved: Whenever I do any conspiciously evil ac- 
tion, to trace it back till I come to the original cause ; 
and then, both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and 
to fight and pray with all my might against the original 
of it. 

-"Resolved: To examine carefully and constantly what 
that one thing in me is which causes me in the least to 
doubt the love of God, and to direct all my forces against 
it. 

"Resolved: Never to say anything at all against any- 
body, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest de- 
gree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind ; agree- 
able to the lowest humility and sense of my own faults 
and failings ; and agreeable to the golden rule ; often 
when I have said anything against any one, to bring it to, 
and try it strictly by the test of this resolution. 

"Resolved: To inquire every night, as I am going to 
bed, wherein I have been negligent ; what sin I have com- 
mitted ; and, wherein I have denied myself. 

"Resolved : Never to do anything of which I so much 
question the lawfulness, as that I intend at the same time 
to consider and examine afterwards whether it be lawful 
or not, unless I as much question the lawfulness of the 
omission. 

"Resolved; Whenever my feelings begin to appear in 
the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least 
uneasiness within, "or the least irregularity without, I will 
subject myself to the strictest examination." 

When he subjected his heart and motives to such a 
strict examination as this day after day, it is no wonder 



66 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

that we afterward hear him testifying to the uncleanness 
and sinfulness of his heart in the following strong and, 
perhaps exaggerated language: "My wickedness, as I am 
in myself, has long appeared to me perfectly ineffable, 
and swallowing up all thought and imagination, like an 
infinite deluge, or mountains over my head. I know not 
how to express better what my sins appear to me to be, 
than by heaping infinite upon infinite, and multiplying 
infinite by infinite. Very often for many years these ex- 
pressions are in my mind and in my mouth: infinite upon 
infinite, and multiplying infinite by infinite. When I look 
into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks 
like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell. And appears to 
me that were it not for free grace, exalted and raised up 
to all the infinite height of all the fulness and glory of 
the great Jehovah, and the arms of his power and grace 
stretched forth in all the majesty of his power, and "in 
all the glory of his sovereignty, I should appear sunk down 
in my sins below hell itself." 

Jonathan Edwards was a Presbyterian and at the 
time of writing these rules did not believe he could be 
delivered from these sins of his heart ; but the plan he took 
in dealing with his soul would have surely brought de- 
liverance if he had only added the belief that God could 
cleanse him. But since he did not, he had to struggle 
on looking at his bosom foe the greater part of his life, 
when cleansing was right at his door. But we have not 
so learned Christ. We know that when we get a sight of 
our hearts, and loathe ourselves before God, there is 
cleansing at hand for us. 
By taking the course described above the disease of 
the soul will come to light. If you thus examine closely 
and honestly, you will find your heart reaching out for 
praise or preferment, or fearing the scorn or disapproval 
of others ; an uncomfortable jealous feeling when others 
are praised in your presence and you left out, and a 
secret wish that you might be praised instead, and this per- 
haps accompanied by thoughts of the failings of the one 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 67 

praised, and a strong desire to tell them; pride of your 
own person, no matter how lacking in beauty, often com- 
placently viewing your face in the mirror; pride of your 
attainments, your name, your family ; unclean promptings 
— the mind reaching out after unclean things, perhaps 
in desire to see immodest pictures or things gratifying to 
prurient curiosity; lustful glances, accompanied^ by secret 
desire for gratification that wars against the Spirit ; impa- 
tient feelings when crossed or slighted ; and, when any little 
matter goes contrary to your desire, a tendency to say un- 
kind things. It is useless to go through the whole list, and 
the windings of sinful tendencies are so numerous that it 
would be impossible; but, if you are honest, and steadily 
and persistently hold your heart open before God, your 
uncleanness will loom up before your spirit's vision and 
cause you to humble yourself before him. Oh, for honest 
souls, who will be clean at any cost ! 

When the light of the Spirit shines on any one of these 
tendencies, trace it back in your life, and you will be 
surprised to find how many times it has shown itself and 
you passed it by not knowing what to call it. God will 
bring these things to your remembrance, if you honestly 
desire his guidance. 

Take one manifestation of the carnal nature as an 
illustration of what is meant. Another person is praised 
in your presence, and you feel the strivings of jealousy. 
(To be sure you did not yield to these strivings; if you did 
you forfeited grace.) Get alone with God as quickly as 
possible. Throw your heart and mind open, and you will 
perhaps see that yesterday when Sister Blank had quite a 
free time you felt jealous of the praise she would get, or 
even jealous over the fact that God would bless her 
and not you. Terhaps you will remember that when 
church officers were elected and you were left out you felt 
so uneasy inside that you could scarcely hold up under 
it. The preacher calls on Sister Blank twice and only 
once on you, and how uncomfortable you feel. Sister 
Blank has a larger house, more money, better education, 



68 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

better clothes than you, and, oh, how your heart burns and 
you have to pray much to keep the victory. You will see nu- 
merous instances where you have felt jealous of your hus- 
band, your wife, your neighbor's money, honor, preferment, 
blessings, till you will actually wonder how God kept 
you saved at all, and it may be you will be tempted to 
think you have not been saved ; but hold still ; this is 
God's way of answering prayer and giving you light. 

Now you begin to see what carnality really is. This 
is light from heaven. Do not draw back. The sight will 
make you shudder, but press right up to the light. It 
is the blessed God that is shining. Press on ; go ahead ; 
hold yourself to the rack; and at length God will lead 
you right into the depths of your soul, where all around 
you are its vile tendencies, and you will see that they are 
in every move, in every word, in every prayer, in every 
testimony, in everything you say and do. How you will 
shudder and cry out to God! Hold steady. Let the light 
pour in till the whole brood is thoroughly routed and cast 
out. But here is where a great many fail ; their spirit 
faints at the sight. But if you will be steady here, God 
will take you through to glorious victory. 

Page after page might be taken from Wesley's writings 
to promote this deep knowledge of the sinfulness of the 
unsanctified heart. For your encouragement we will give 
one quotation from his sermon on "The First Fruits of the 
Spirit," which must suffice : "There is no condemnation 
to them which 'walk after the spirit,' by reason of inivard 
sin still remaining, so long as they do not give way there- 
to ; nor by reason of sin cleaving to all they do. Then fret 
not thyself because thou still comest short of the glorious 
image of God; nor yet because pride, self-will, or unbelief, 
cleave to all thy words or works. And be not afraid to 
know all this evil of thy heart, to know thyself as also 
thou art known. Yea, desire of God that thou mayest 
not think of thyself more highly than thou oughtest to 
think. Let thy continual prayer be. — 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 69 

" 'Show me, as my soul can bear, 
The depth of inbred sin ; 
All the unbelief declare, 

The pride that works within.' 

But when he heareth thy prayer, and unveils thy heart ; 
when he shows thee thoroughly what spirit thou art of; 
then beware that thy faith fail thee not, that thou suffer 
not thy shield to be torn from thee. Be abased. Be 
humbled in the dust. See thyself nothing, less than noth- 
ing and vanity. But still 'let not thy heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid.' Still hold fast, I, even I, 'have 
an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' 
'And as the heavens are higher than the earth, so is his 
love higher than even our sins.' Therefore, God is merciful 
to thee a sinner ! Such a sinner as thou art ! God is love ; 
and Christ hath died! Therefore, the Father himself 
loveth thee! Thou art his child! Therefore he will with- 
hold from thee no manner of thing that is good. Is it 
good, that the whole body of sin, which is crucified in 
thee, should be destroyed? It shall be done! Thou shalt 
be 'cleansed from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit.' 
Is it good, that nothing should remain in thy heart, but 
the pure love of God alone? Be of good cheer! 'Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and 
mind, and soul, and strength.' 'Faithful is he that hath 
promised, who also will do it.' It is thy part, patiently 
to continue in the work of faith, and in the labor of love ; 
and in cheerful peace, in humble confidence, with calm 
and resigned, and yet earnest expectation, to wait till the 
zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this," 



CHAPTER X. 



CONFESSION. 



When to one is given this deep view of the inward 
workings of carnality, he will just as naturally confess it 
as he will confess his actual sins when seeking pardon. 
The fact is that such a view of self will be accompanied 
by confession almost as inevitably as a person is accom- 
panied by his shadow; the discovery and confession can 
scarcely be separated in experience, and we have separated 
them here only for convenience. Then his heart in its honest 
moments will groan its complaints to God, no matter how 
contrary to his theories such a course may be. If this 
is true, it seems strange that there should be holiness 
teachers who would oppose confession; and yet it is not 
so strange either when we know how the natural heart 
opposes everything vital in religion. But confession of 
inherent sin is a Bible requirement, the doctrine of those 
"holy men of old" who "spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost." 

Dr. Jesse T. Peck, in his "Central Idea of Christianity" 
(pages 220-221) says: "But you will find some stubborn 
difficulties in your way. There are some unavoidable 
implications in the confessions you are called upon to make, 
that will be deeply humbling to the soul. You have prob- 
ably been long known and recognized as a Christian — per- 
haps a faithful, fervent Christian; you may have been 
a leader in the armies of Israel — a minister in the church 
of God — even an eminent minister among your brethren. 
In either case, it is not quite easy to confess that you 
have been all this time without a pure heart — that your 
religion has been a religion of contests with yourself, as 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 71 

well as with the world and Satan, and that, though you 
have advocated for years a religion of purity, you have 
never yet fully availed yourself of the purifying provisions 
of the gospel. * * * * Nor is it upon any principle of 
penance, or self-mortification, or with any view to priestly 
absolution, that confession is required. The grand prin- 
ciple of this whole concession is truth, truth to the con- 
science ; truth to the facts of the present and the past ; 
truth to the convictions of the soul by the Holy Spirit; 
truth to the vows yoU have made, and the demands of 
the church ; all of which requires, and must have, candid 
expression; and you will be gratified, you will be thankful 
to God for the benefits it confers." 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his comments on 1 John 1 :9 says : 
"Guilt, to be forgiven, must be confessed ; and pollution, 
to be cleansed, must be confessed. In order to find mercy, 
a man must know and feel himself to be a sinner, that 
he may fervently apply to God for pardon ; and in order 
to get a clean heart, a man must know and feel its de- 
pravity, acknowledge and deplore it before God, in order 
to be fully sanctified. Few are pardoned because they do 
not feel and confess their sins ; and few are sanctified, 
or cleansed from all sin, because they do not feel and confess 
their own sore, and the plague of their hearts." 

One condition of pardon is that a person confess his 
sins, and one condition of cleansing is that the depravity 
of the heart be confessed and deplored. A sinner con- 
fesses his actual transgressions because he seeks forgive- 
ness for them ; but the Christian confesses his sin or de- 
pravity because it is this from which he now seeks to 
be delivered. But in either case God requires of the 
seeker an honest confession before he will do the work 
for which he seeks. 

In order to make our meaning concerning the necessity 
of confession clear let us quote some things that are not 
and some things that are implied in the scriptural con- 
fession of inbred sin: 



72 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

I. Some things we do not mean when we speak of con- 
fession. 

1. We do not mean auricular confession, — confession 
to some human being, as the Catholics confess to their 
priests. This is the first thing that occurs to the minds of 
many when confession is mentioned. This may be from 
the fact that this matter of confession has been almost 
entirely excluded from our Protestant theology, and is 
scarcely mentioned any more, except in speaking of the 
errors of the Papists. But because Papists run to ex- 
tremes in confession and works, Protestants are not ex- 
cusable for running to the opposite extreme of secrecy 
and so-called faith. No, God's way always lies between 
the two extremes of rabid radicalism and flesh-pleasing 
conservatism. If we regard it as necessary to confess all 
the thoughts of our hearts to some human being, we shall 
be involved in several difficulties : 

(i) No person can pray through to victory alone. If 
the confession must of necessity be made to some person, 
this is the inevitable conclusion. 

(2) There must be a confessor, or some person who will 
consent to listen to our tale. Now some persons are so situ- 
ated that this would be impossible, and when the depths of 
depravity are being unfolded it would take a person with 
a great deal of nerve and grace to stand quietly by and 
listen. Such persons are hard to find. 

(3) It would necessitate telling all. Roman Catholics, 
hold special penitents to this line, and, if they forget, 
or hesitate the priests have a series of questions as re- 
minders. 

(4) Confession could not be made to one of the op- 
posite sex. True, Catholics do this, but our Protestant 
hearts revolt from such a procedure, and it is well that 
they do. Some things could be confessed, but not all. 

It seems to me that these four considerations effectually 
do away with the necessity for such a confession as some 
seem to teach. 

2. We do not think it is either neccessary or possible to 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 73 

see and confess all the unclean movings of the soul. It 
is comparatively easy to remember our worst sins, but 
when we undertake to remember every sin and tell the 
motives that have impelled us to every action of our lives, 
the absurdity of such a course is apparent in a moment. 
Enough only is necessary to cause the soul to turn with 
loathing from carnality to the blood that cleanses. 

3. There are some confession which it is improper 
to make under certain circumstances : 

(1) It is improper to tell in public the secret movings 
of the soul to such an extent as to bring reproach on the 
cause of God. Such errors have been committed, done 
by honest souls who wanted to do their best at getting 
right with God. The enemy likes to crowd such persons 
too far. 

(2) It is improper for a husband or wife who has in 
reality been true to the marriage vow to tell too much of 
the involuntary infidelity of the heart. Involuntary heart 
wanderings, if promptly and firmly resisted, involve no 
actual guilt, and such confession may only cause aliena- 
tion of affection in the party to whom it is made. 

(3) Do not confess to this or that just to break up 
your heart. Such a course is liable to run into great ex- 
tremes, for if the heart must be broken in this way, of 
course the worst things imaginable will be the first things 
to be told. Hold steady before the light till the sight of 
your own heart breaks you down ; then pour your heart 
out to God, and it will do you much good. 

(4) Do not berate and belittle yourself. Carnality will 
grow fat on such things. Calling yourself mean names and 
extravagant expressions will do no good. Simply tell the 
truth. 

(5) Do not exaggerate. Hold yourself to the absolute 
facts in the case. Overstatement is just as wrong as un- 
derstatement. Don't hunt for some fearful thing that 
will astonish yourself and others. Truth is bad enough 
without such exaggeration. 

(6) Do not descend to trifles and whimsicalities. Tell 



74 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

them out to God if necessary, but do not annoy and degrade 
others with such things. Hold yourself to the real issue. 

(7) Do not ramble over the whole country, but hold 
steady before the white light of heaven. This hurts. This 
will kill. So do not fall into aimless bush-whacking, but 
with tears and groans march against the enemy. Amen. 
By Jesus' help you can dislodge him. 

II. The proper kind of confession, as taught by the 
Bible and early Methodism: 

1. Public confession. Under this head we quote from 
Peck's "Central Idea" (pp. 217, 218) : "We must suggest 
that this conviction for holiness and resolution to obtain 
it can in no case be made a secret. * * * * And yet you 
must be consistent. God will not allow you to be one 
thing to your own consciousness, and another in the rea- 
sonable apprehensions of others. You may not inwardly 
reckon yourself a seeker of entire salvation, and outwardly 
appear to be content with the ordinary Christian state. You 
cannot ask God to look upon you as a determined seeker of 
holiness and ask your brethren to look upon you as having 
no peculiar convictions, or purposes, or feelings in regard to 
this great question. No duplicity can be allowed here or 
elsewhere. Honestly, just what you are, you must be 
willing to be considered." 

There are, no doubt, certain lines of confession that 
God requires of certain individuals. No line can be speci- 
fied that will cover every case, as God suits his require- 
ments to the case in hand; using only the means and 
amount necessary to bring each individual down at his 
feet. It is manifestly as impossible to particularize, and 
lay down iron-clad rules that will suit every case, as 
it is perfectly to understand every case, and when we do 
understand to incorporate them all into one; or as it is 
to read the mind of God. There is no doubt that in sep- 
arate cases he makes known to the soul the special direc- 
tion to be taken under its peculiar circumstances, but 
these leadings are as various as the various individuals 
and their different temperaments and necessities. But 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 75 

general rules can quite easily be laid down that will cover 
the separate cases in a general way. 

(1) There should be a general confession of the con- 
dition of the heart. You might say something like this : 
"I have been professing holiness for so many months, 
or years, but now find that I was mistaken. All the while 
I have been harassed with doubts as to whether my heart 
was actually clean, but I laid these embarrassments to 
temptation. Sometimes I would be really blest, and would 
then feel quite clear and comparatively easy in claiming 
the glorious experience; but now I find that this was the 
blessing received by every truly justified soul, yet God 
did not reject me for misrepresenting matters, because he 
saw that I was honest. At times I have felt the stirring^ 
of pride and jealousy in my soul, and have had a hard 
time to keep the victory. Impatience came involuntarily 
boiling up, and because the Spirit of God that was in me 
did not allow me actually to give way, I turned it ofr 
as merely a temptation. When I looked away from it to 
Jesus I was happy, but I now see that God always blesses 
honest souls when they look to him. I have felt sin strug- 
gling against grace, and grace against sin. At times it 
has seemed that sin would gain the day in spite of all my 
efforts ; then again grace so triumphed that I scarcely 
realized the presence of sin. But now I see my true state. 
The light shines clearly. I mean to press my case until 
deliverance comes." Much the same course in general could 
be pursued by those who never have professed holiness. 

(2) More detailed confession might profitable be used 
at the altar, if you have the privilege of one where you 
can pray as you choose. If not, tell it to God in secret. 
When your soul is broken up and you see your true stand- 
ing, pour your heart out to God. Mourn because your 
heart is unclean. Tell God how it has dishonored him, 
and taken to itself the glory due to him only. Tell him 
how pride has hindered your prayers, and how jealousy 
has infused your spirit. Tell him of the deadly strife, 
of the clashing of arms within. Tell him how impatient 



76 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

and envious you have been of the rise or promotion of 
another. In short, confess out in general your heart's deep 
strivings, but do not descend to particular events. Reserve 
this for a more private place. The ears of God are al- 
ways open to hear your complaints. 

Do not consider this an irksome task, but thank God 
for the privilege of hunting your foe to the death. Let 
a godly glorying in this "revenge" you are obtaining 
against the "old man" arise in your heart. Persecute 
him to the death. Hew him to pieces before the Lord. 
Cry out for God's aid. It shall be given. 

2. Individual confession should sometimes be made. 
By this we mean confession to parties you have injured, 
or toward whom you have manifested bad tempers. Peck 
says, "We refer not to minute details ; — these are not due 
except to individuals who you may have injured and to 
whom you owe reparation ; and this, it is presumed, you 
have not knowingly withheld, or you would have lost your 
justification" (Central Idea, pp. 220, 221). But it may be 
that in a moment of severe pressure you have let some 
unkind or hasty word escape your lips, which stung some 
one to the very heart. Perhaps they spent hours of weep- 
ing as a result, and constantly feel that you have a lack 
of true love for them. Now when the Holy Spirit brings 
this to your remembrance, make all haste to go to the 
one injured and cast out the fire from your bosom. Tell 
them of that ill word you spoke, or that injurious tale you 
helped to keep going. It has stung your own soul ever 
since. If it has not kept you under absolute condemnation, 
it has chained your soul so that it is impossible to rise. 
You may find right here that something like this has been 
holding you back for months. Now be honest. Let the 
light pour in ; and, when it comes, walk in it, for you are 
now after God, and to find him you must take the track 
that leads to him. 

3. Private confession. It will no doubt be admitted 
by all, or at least by the radical branch of the holiness 
movement, that if a seeker for heart purity will take some 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 77 

friend to one side and tell the troubles of his soul, pointing 
out specifically under what circumstances he felt certain 
tendencies arise in his soul, that he will be greatly helped. 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his comments on James 5 :16, 
says : "This is a good general direction to Christians who 
endeavor to maintain among themselves the communion 
of saints. This social confession tends much to humble 
the soul, and to make it watchful. We naturally wish that 
our friends in general, and our religious friends in par- 
ticular, should think well of us ; and when we confess 
to them offences which, without this confession, they 
could never have known, we feel humbled, and are kept 
from self-applause and induced to watch unto prayer, 
that we may not increase our offences before God, or be 
obliged any more to undergo the painful humiliation of 
acknowledging our weakness, fickleness, or infidelity to our 
religious brethren. It is not said, Confess your faults to the 
ELDERS, that they may forgive them, or. prescribe pen- 
ance in order to forgive them. No ; the members of the 
church were to confess their faults to each other, there- 
fore auricular confession to a priest, such as is prescribed 
by the Romish Church, has no foundation in this passage. 
Indeed, had it any foundation here it would prove more 
than they wish, for it would require the priest to confess 
his sins to the people, as well as the people to confess theirs 
to the priest." 

Dr. Benson, in his comments on the same passage, 
brings out the same thoughts, and it is not necessary to 
transcribe the passage here. 

Wesley, in his notes on this passage, says : "Confess 
your faults — whether you are sick or in health — to one 
another. He does not say to the elders. (This may or 
may not be done ; for it is nowhere commanded. ) We 
may confess them to anyone who can pray in faith. He 
will then know how to pray for us, and be more stirreG 
up so to do ; and pray one for another, 'that ye may be 
healed' — of all your spiritual diseases." 

Again, in his "Christian Perfection," Wesley says : "And 



78 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

if any of you should at any time fall from what you now 
are; if you should again feel pride or unbelief, or any 
temper from which you are now delivered; do not deny, 
do not hide, do not disguise it at all at the peril of your 
soul. At all events go to one in whom you can confide, 
and speak just what you feel. God will enable him to 
speak a word in season, which shall be health to your 
soul. And surely he will again lift up your head, and 
cause the bones that have been broken to rejoice." 

In speaking of confession in his "Central Idea" (p. 222), 
Dr. Peck says : "It will, moreover, secure a strong sym- 
pathy for you, and the most fervent prayers from those 
you love. You will feel the power of this collateral sup- 
port. It will sustain your resolution mightily, and the 
richness of blessings called down in answer to united 
intercessions, from faithful believing ones, will more than 
compensate you for the cross you have borne." 

There is in man a desire to unburden himself, a desire 
to find some one to whom he can make his condition known, 
and of whom he can obtain assistance. St. James says, 
"Confess your faults one to another." There is a wonder- 
ful tendency in this kind of confession to humble the soul, 
melt it like wax in the fire, and make it feel its utter de- 
pravity and great need of the cleansing blood. When all 
these things are locked up in your heart, and you flatter 
yourself that no one knows, there is great liability that 
a feeling of vanity may arise ; but in telliug out honestly 
the workings of your soul this vain feeling is crucified, 
and a sense of shame and self-abnegation takes its place. 

Then, again, it is the nature of sin to hide itself. The 
first thing Adam and Eve did when they fell was to hide 
their shame, and from Adam and Eve to Ananias and 
Sapphira this tendency is clearly disclosed in the Bible. 
Now, to drag out these things from their lurking places 
and set them up in full view of God and a fellow man 
will wither them as the scorching August sun "withers the 
worms that are turned out" by the plow. Although it is 
true that we naturally want a friend in whom we can 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 79 

confide, and to whom we can tell our troubles and obtain 
help, yet it is also true that carnality hates detection, and 
will shrink from public view as long as possible. 

Oh, how your heart will shrink and rebel from this 
process ! Your tongue will almost cleave to the roof of 
your mouth, but why should it? Every one has the same 
unclean nature. It is in men's hearts, even if they have 
not seen and acknowledged it. But now you see it. Thank 
God for that fact, and urge the sinful thing to the cross. 

We do not wish to be misunderstood as teaching this 
confession as meritorious, but only as an aid to humble 
the soul and bring it to the blood. Confessing our faults 
one to another in the Spirit will seldom or never fail in 
humbling and helping our souls. 

The more persistently you drag these things out to 
the light, the more desperate your soul will become, and 
the more fearful you will discover the deceitful lurkings 
of inbred sin to be. Under the light now shining you 
will be as one in a charnel house, beset on every side 
with pride, anger, jealousy, love of praise, carnal con- 
fidence, envy, suspicions, lust, evil eye, softness, sinful 
self-love, unbelief, and innumerable other unclean spirits, 
like so many venomous serpents striking at your trem- 
bling soul, infecting their deadly poison and hissing with 
infernal hate against the things of the Holy Spirit. Awak- 
ened thus -to a sense of your need, you will soon find 
the cleansing blood. Yea, you will find your way to Cal- 
vary's Victim, and, broken and mangled, you will pros- 
trate yourself at his feet and receive the warm flow 
of the sin-cleansing tide on your awakened soul. Amen. 
Even so, Lord Jesus. 

It is comparatively easy to make a general confession 
of sin, but to come to particulars and say, "There and 
there I felt so and so," is harder to do. After all it is 
not these tendencies that are the trouble, but these 
lead into the trouble. The real trouble is way 
back in the heart, and these tendencies followed up 
will lead you into its very midst, as the trees blazed in 



80 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

the forest will lead you to the settlement within its depths. 
Follow them up, and confess them out. There is efficacy 
in the blood to cleanse. 



CHAPTER XI. 



CONFESSION CONCLUDED. 



4. This line of confession, wherever practicable, will 
greatly help ; but where it is not practicable, still there 
is a way through. We have spent much time on public and 
private confession in order to make the subject clear. So 
many errors have been taught and practised in connection 
with this matter that honest people are justly afraid of 
going too far. But that some have erred is no reason 
why we should likewise err in flying to the opposite 
extreme. While we have much confidence in public and 
private confession as a help, yet where there is no oppor- 
tunity to make such confession, God himself will supply 
every deficiency and take the honest seeker through just 
as quickly and clearly without it. Fasten your faith, 
then, to Almighty God, and you will find it as a nail driven 
in a sure place. God only knows the heart, and to him 
alone is confession of heart conditions absolutely due, ex- 
cept as honesty demands adjustment with others where 
possible. David said, "Against thee, and thee only, have 
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." 

It may be that you will only have an opportunity to 
simply state your need in public congregation, and that 
you have no friend to whom you can unburden your soul. 
The pent-up feelings of your heart are longing for utter- 
ance, but you have "no man like minded" who will listen 
to your tale of woe. You ask, "What shall I do?" We 
answer, God is always listening for people in your con- 
dition to speak to him. But you want some human ear 
to hear. God 'will supply every deficiency. Tell him all. 
His time is not so taken up with governing the universe 



82 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

that he has no time for you. Wait for God in humble 
prayer, open your heart to him, until he melts it all down 
at his feet, then pour out your inward sins and your soul's 
great needs to him. Let your confession go as deep as it 
may ; keep pressing your case persistently ; there is no 
doubt that it will strike deeper and deeper, and your 
hatred for sin will increase from time to time. 

The length of time will depend greatly on the persis- 
tendency with which you urge your suit before God. In- 
different prayers will bring no satisfying answers ; while 
importunity will bring direct and speedy answers. Make 
no excuse for your lack of earnestness. It is not your 
duties and cares but your slothful heart that causes you 
to be thus careless. It will not take God long to finish 
the work, if you follow quickly in every ray of light. 

The following advice of the holy Fletcher's Christian 
Perfection may help you at this point, and is worthy of 
being studied carefully on your knees : 

"You will have this humble and thankful disposition, 
if you let your repentance cast deeper roots. For, if 
Christian perfection implies a forsaking of all inward as 
well as outward sin, and, if true repentance is a grace 
'whereby we forsake sin,' it follows that, to attain Chris- 
tian perfection, we must so follow our Lord's evangelical 
precept, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven it at hand,' 
as to leave no sin, no indwelling sin, unrepented of, and, 
of consequence, unforsaken. He whose heart is full of 
indwelling sin has no more truly repented of indwelling 
sin than the man,- whose mouth is defiled with filthy talk- 
ing and jesting, has truly repented of ribaldry. The deeper 
our sorrow for, and detestation of indwelling sin are, the 
more penitently do we confess 'the plague of our heart :' 
and, when we properly confess it, we inherit the blessing 
promised in these words : 'If we confess our sins, he is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness.' 

"To promote this deep repentance, consider how many 
spiritual evils still haunt your breast. Look into the in- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 83 

ward 'chamber of imagery,' where assuming self love, sur- 
rounded by a multitude of vain thoughts, foolish desires, 
and wild imaginations, keeps her court. Grieve that your 
heart, which should be all flesh, is yet partly stone; that 
your soul, that should be only a temple for the Holy 
Ghost, is yet so frequently turned into a den of thieves, 
a hole for the cockatrice, a nest for a brood of spiritual 
vipers, for the remains of envy, jealousy, fretfulness, anger, 
pride, impatience, peevishness, formality, sloth, prejudice, 
bigotry, carnal confidence, evil shame, self-righteousness, 
tormenting fears, uncharitable suspicions, idolatrous love, 
and I know not how many of the evils which form the 
retinue of hypocrisy and unbelief. Through grace de- 
tect these evils, by a close attention to what passes in 
your heart at all times, but especially in an hour of tempta- 
tion. By frequent and deep confession drag out all these 
abominations. These sins, which would not have Christ 
to reign alone over you, bring before him ; place them in 
the light of his countenance ; and, if you do it in faith, 
that light and warmth of his love will kill them, as the 
light and heat of the sun kill the worms which the plow 
turns up to the open air in a dry summer's day. 

"Nor plead that you can do nothing; for, by the help 
of Christ, who is always ready to assist the helpless, ye 
c$n solemnly say upon your knees what ye have probably 
said in an airy manner to your professing friends. If ye 
ever acknowledged to them that your heart is deceitful, 
prone to leave undone the things ye ought to do, and ready 
to do what ye ought to leave undone, ye can undoubtedly 
make the same confession to God. Complain to him who 
can help you, as ye have done to those who cannot. La- 
ment, as you are able, the darkness of your mind, the 
stiffness of your will, the dulness or exorbitancy of your 
affections ; and importunately entreat the God of all 
grace to 'renew a right spirit within' you. If ye 'sorrow 
after this godly sort, what carefulness will be' wrought in 
you! 'what indignation! what fear! what vehement de- 



84 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

sire ! what zeal ! yea, what revenge !' Ye will then sing 
in faith what the imperfectionists sing in unbelief: 

"Oh, how I hate these lusts of mine, 
That crucified my God ; 
These sins that pierced and nailed His flesh 
Fast to the fatal wood ! 

" fc Yes, my Redeemer, they shall die, 
My heart has so decreed ; 
Nor will I spare those guilty things 
That made my Savior bleed. 

" 'While with a melting, broken heart 
My murdered Lord I view, 
I'll raise revenge against my sins, 
And slay the murderers, too !' " 

He also adds this wonderful prayer which should as- 
sist you in bringing your suit before God: 

"How long, Lord, shall my soul, thy spiritual temple, 
be a den of thieves, or a house of merchandise? How 
long shall profane thoughts profane it, as the buyers aud 
sellers profaned the temple made with human hands? 
How long shall evil tempers lodge within me? How long 
shall unbelief, formality, hypocrisy, envy, hankering after 
sensual pleasures, indifference to spiritual delights, an^ 
backwardness to painful or ignominious duty, harbor 
there? How long shall these sheep and doves, yea, these 
goats and serpents, defile my breast, which should be as 
pure as the Holy of Holies? How long shall they hinder 
me from being one of the worshipers whom thou seekest; 
one of those who worship thee in spirit and in truth? O 
help me to take away these cages of unclean birds ! Sud- 
denly come to thy temple! Turn out all that offends the 
eye of thy purity, and destroy all that keeps me out of 
the rest which remains for thy Christian people: so shall 
I keep a spiritual Sabbath, a Christian jubilee to the God 
of my life: so shall I witness my share in the 'oil of joy,' 
with which thou anointest perfect Christians above their 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 85 

fellow-believers. I stand in need of that oil, Lord. My 
lamp burns dim : sometimes it seems to be even gone out, 
as that of the foolish virgins : it is more like smoking flax 
than a burning and shining light. O quench it not! Raise 
it to a flame! Thou knowest that I do believe in thee. 
The trembling hand of my faith holds thee; and though 
I have ten thousand times grieved thy pardoning love, 
thine everlasting arm is still under me to redeem my life 
from destruction; while thy right hand is over me, to 
crown me with mercies and loving-kindness. 

"But, alas! I am neither sufficiently thankful for thy 
present mercies, nor sufficiently athirst for thy future 
favors. Hence I feel an aching void in my soul, being con- 
scious that I have not attained the heights of grace de- 
scribed in thy word, and enjoyed by thy holiest servants. 
Their deep experiences, the diligence and ardor with which 
they did thy will, the patience and fortitude with which 
they endured the cross, reproach me, and convince me of 
my manifold wants. I want 'power from on high ;' I want 
the penetrating, lasting unction of the Holy One ; I want 
to have my vessel, my capacious heart, full of the oil 
which makes the countenances of wise virgins cheerful ; I 
want a lamp of heavenly illumination, and a fire of divine 
love, burning day and night in my breast, as the typical 
lamps did in the temple, and the sacred fire on the altar ; 
I want a full application of the blood which cleanses from 
all sin, and a strong faith in thy sanctifying word — a faith 
by which thou may est dwell in my heart, as the unwaver- 
ing hope of glory, and the fixed object of my love; I want 
the internal oracle — thy still small voice together with Urim 
and Thummim, the new name, 'which none knoweth but 
he that receiveth it ;' in a word, Lord, I want a plenitude 
of thy Spirit, the full promise of the Father, and the rivers 
which flow from the inmost soul of the believers who have 
gone on to the perfection of thy dispensation. I do believe 
that thou canst and wilt thus 'baptize me with the Holy 
Ghost and fire :' help my unbelief : confirm and increase 
my faith with regard to this important baptism. 



86 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

"Lord, I have need to be thus baptized of thee, and 
I am straitened till this baptism is accomplished. By thy 
baptism of tears in the manger, of water in Jordan, of 
sweat in Gethsemane, of blood, and fire and vapor of 
smoke, and flaming wrath on Calvary, baptize, O baptize 
my soul, and make a full end of the original sin. * * * * I 
am tired of forms, professions, and orthodox notions, so 
far as they are not pipes or channels to convey life, light 
and love to my dead, dark, and stony heart. Neither 
the plain letter of thy gospel, nor the sweet foretastes and 
transient illuminations of thy Spirit, can satisfy the large 
desires of my faith. Give me thine abiding Spirit, that he 
may continually shed abroad thy love in my soul. Come, 
O Lord, with that blessed Spirit! come, thou and thy 
Father in that Holy Comforter! come to make your abode 
with me; or I shall go meekly mourning to my grave! 
Blessed mourning! Lord, increase it! I had rather wait 
in tears for thy fulness than wantonly waste the fragments 
of thy spiritual bounties, or feed with Laodicean content- 
ment upon the tainted manna of my former experiences. 
Righteous Father, I hunger and thirst after thy righteous- 
ness !" 



CHAPTER XII. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



This chapter will be devoted to a few miscellaneous 
thoughts that may be of service to you in your quest after 
God. 

1. Let us emphasize the fact that you must he led of 
the Spirit. This is all-important. All the help of your 
friends and teachers will be a hindrance without it. To 
this end throw your heart open, hold it steadily before 
God, and, as he points you to one trouble after another, 
be quick to acknowledge the situation. The quicker you 
do this the sooner the work will be accomplished. 

2. Talk faith to God and to every one. Shun unbelief 
as you would a viper. Some people seem to think un- 
belief is a virtue. They call it being honest with them- 
selves, getting discouraged with themselves, etc., but in 
reality it is throwing the lie into the face of the Almighty ; 
for has he not said, "Seek and ye shall find"? also, "Faith- 
ful is he that calleth you, who also will do it"? Then 
seek in expectancy. You must not only "believe that he 
is," but that "he is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek him," if you are to be successful. 

An ounce of faith is worth a ton of groans and con 
fessions. Without faith you can never be cleansed ; bu1 
he that hath faith as a grain of mustard seed can remove 
mountains. Groans, when they are in the Spirit, are al 
right ; but very often instead of being a sign of earnestness 
they are caused by a desire to dodge the light and gc 
through in some other than God's way. Man fell awai 
from God through unbelief and disobedience, and God pro 



88 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

poses that he shall return by faith and obedience. God 
works contrary to sin, always. 

A good plan is to turn your eyes heavenward, get a 
sight of God and his amazing holiness ; and then, when 
you turn again to view yourself, your native unholiness 
will show up in a clearer light than ever. The contrast 
will sicken you of self, make your soul long, yea, pant 
after a nature like that of God, and enable you by faith 
to lay hold on him for what you need. 

3. You have a right to praise God. It is just as much 
your right now as it will be after the work is done. Let 
the Lord bless you and then praise him for it, but be 
careful that you do not take the first stirring of your emo- 
tions for holiness. God often blesses the seeker to keep 
him encouraged, or to convince him that he is on the right 
track. Wait for the direct witness of the Spirit, and do 
not allow any one to argue you into a profession with- 
out it. 

4. There is no need of groaning and agonizing to con- 
vince God that you are in earnest. He knows all about 
that. Some people seem to think that if they can pray 
loud, and thresh around and sweat, the Lord will be con- 
vinced that they are in earnest and come to their rescue. 
But holding your heart steadily before God, and pouring 
out your complaints to him will bring him to your aid 
much more quickly and effectually. 

Be patient, and get your heart still before God long 
enough for him to speak. It is a good rule to "make 
haste slowly." Be sure the ground is well covered, and 
then the enemy will not have any occasion to accuse you 
of shallowness when you get through. He will try it, no 
doubt, but you can defeat him much more easily when you 
are certain that you have thoroughly met the conditions 
before you profess the experience. 

One great reason why some people have an "up and 
down" experience is that they cannot bear the idea of not 
being able to say, "I am saved, I am sanctified." Hence, 
as soon as they find their hearts unclean they rush into 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 89 

a profession without properly presenting and holding their 
case before God. They work themselves into a frenzy, 
and God blesses them in a measure (perhaps to keep them 
from losing their minds), and then they jump up, clap 
their hands and claim to be sanctified. In a little while, 
however, they are down and in doubt and bondage the 
same as before. 

Reader, to know that you please God is greater victory 
than to be able to say, "I am saved and sanctified," espe- 
cially when you have to say this with your own conscience 
contradicting the statement. Perhaps you think you must 
use the stereotyped expression, "saved and sanctified," to 
keep clear and hold an experience, but an experience that 
must be held in such a way is better lost. If you are 
forced to hold your experience, what comes of our preach- 
ing that holiness is a safeguard against backsliding, that 
it is something to hold you? According to your idea, you 
must not only hold yourself, but have the additional trouble 
of holding an experience that is like a fractious horse, 
forever trying to get away. 

Probably one reason why God does not oftener let the 
light shine clearly on the carnality in the hearts of young 
converts is because the light is so penetrating and the 
strength of the subjects so small that they are not able 
to bear it. So he lets them go on for a while until they 
get strong in grace and faith. It is a mistake so say that 
grace gets weaker, for if a person walks in the light it 
gets stronger and firmer. Then when the proper time 
conies God shines in. 

Wesley says : "And now first do they see the ground 
of their hearts ; which God before would not disclose to 
them, lest the soul should fail before him, and the spirit 
which he had made. Now they see all the hidden abomina- 
tions there, the depths of pride, self-will, and hell ; yet 
having the witness in themselves, 'Thou art an heir of 
God, a joint-heir with Christ, even in the midst of this 
fiery trial ;' which continually heightens both the strong 
sense they then have of their inability to help themselves, 



90 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

and the inexpressible hunger they feel after a full re- 
newal in his image, in 'righteousness and true holiness.' " 
We do not think for a moment that it is necessary or 
possible for everybody or anybody to see absolutely all the 
manifestations of carnality within them. It is so subtle, so 
complex, and has such diversified manifestations that this 
would be impossible. But God will disclose enough to give 
us such a conception of "the body of sin" that we shall 
cry out against it till deliverance comes. 

5. Lay no plans, and conceive no formulas for the 
worlting of the Holy Ghost. Let him work in his own way. 
There is enough variety in his workings so that no one 
need copy the experience of another. No matter how the 
spirit wishes to use you, give yourself without reserve into 
his hands. 

The fact that you have done all that you see to do 
does not prove that you have done all that you can do. 
At times the light may not shine so brightly, and then 
again it will pour in more clearly than before. You have 
not done all you can do until you exercise faith in the 
blood and receive the witness of the Spirit that the work 
is completed, and that your heart is cleansed. So long as 
the witness tarries keep pressing forward. 

6. Be hunible. Fling away the idea that you are con- 
ferring a favor on God in seeking holiness. It is he who is 
conferring on you the greatest boon possible to mortal man, 
the boon of "perfect love." Fletcher says : "If thou seest 
any beauty in the humbling grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
in the sanctifying love of God, and in the comfortable fel- 
lowship of the Holy Ghost, let thy free will run to meet 
them, and bow itself toward the ground. O for a speedy 
going out of thy tent, thy sinful self! O for a race of 
desire in the way of faith ! O for incessant prostrations ! 
O for a meek and deep bowing of thyself before thy divine 
Deliverer !" 

The nearer you get to God the worse your heart may 
seem to be. In reality it is not worse, but you now see 
it as it is, and as it has been all along. The way up is 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 91 

down. Most people would like to soar into the experience 
of perfection as in a balloon ; but instead of this, one must 
dig down through all the strata of sin and unbelief till he 
reaches the lowest place possible of attainment before God 
in his present condition. We must, as Fletcher says, "Go 
down till we come to the lowest place." 

Quite often God works contrary to what we would 
think. He shows us our indifference, not always by a 
special revelation but by allowing us to feel indifferent 
and sluggish till it takes an effort to shake ourselves 
loose ; to show impatience he allows days of testing till 
it seems we can scarcely stand; he shows us unbelief by 
allowing doubts to come in like a flood ; pride by per- 
mitting its assaults in various ways ; and so on through 
the whole list of evil propensities. But if there come 
these days of sluggishness, trial, testing, etc., we must 
press through all, remembering that, 

"Behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face." 

7. Pray much. Find occasions and places to pour out 
your heart before God. You cannot expect to make any 
headway without this. Be importunate. Fasting also is 
a good accompaniment of prayer. While you rejoice in 
God's favor, do not cease to afflict your soul before him, 
and you will soon find the door of the kingdom. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



USES OF TEMPTATION. 



"Temptations," says Thomas a Kempis, "are often very 
profitable to men though they may be troublesome and 
grievous : for in them a man is humbled, purified, and in- 
structed. All the saints have passed through and profited 
by many tribulations : and they that could not bear tempta- 
tions, became reprobates and fell away." 

We have already mentioned some of the temptations 
and trials that come to those who are seeking holiness, 
but these were along one line only, and did not include 
the thousands of tests that come to the soul as a result 
of its being saved, and which have nothing to do, directly, 
with holiness. Thank God, however, that since these "of- 
fenses must come," it is possible to make even these things 
"work for us," and that to the end that we may become 
"partakers of his holiness." The writer is radically op- 
posed to the teaching that we must obtain holiness through 
sufferings, or bodily pain, as taught by Madam Guyon and 
other mystics of the middle ages, yet it must be admitted 
that the pains and trials with which we are beset are 
permitted for our good, and for our futherance in the way 
of holiness. St. Paul says, "We know that all things work 
together for good to them that love God." 

Self-inflicted pains, penances and flagellations are 
relics of heathenism, and have more of a tendency to 
bolster up the soul in its self-righteousness than to humble 
it; but the pains and afflictions providentially received 
while in the true way we are stretching after God, are 
beneficial, and tend to humble the soul and lead Godward. 
Of course, the benefit of these things is conditioned on the 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 93 

way the soul behaves itself in the midst of them. For if 
one sets to complaining, and endeavoring to fight against 
them in his own strength, much or all of the intended bene- 
fit will be lost; but if he abandons all to the will of God, 
and, to the best of his ability, rejoices that he is counted 
worthy not only to believe, but also to suffer for his sake 
(Phil. 1:29), he will come out better than if he had been 
constantly blest. But it is hard for one in whom the 
carnal nature still remains to see that "all things,',' even 
temptations, "work together for good." God is so good, 
however, that he will not allow an honest soul to settle 
down in ease and carnal security, and so he keeps it con- 
stantly on the move, hurrying it from one furnace to an- 
other, heating the last hotter than the first, giving it that 
amount of suffering that will the best temper it and make 
it to "know him and the fellowship of his sufferings" (Phil. 
3:10). 

The following from Madam Guyon, referring specially 
to a person seeking holiness, or entire sanctification, is 
rather strong, but has in it much food for careful thought : 
"The more God loves a soul and designs it for great things, 
the more he pushes it forward without mercy and without 
giving it a moment of rest: it finds no rest of spirit, nor 
the least thing in the world to depend upon. There are 
only precipices, unfathomable depths, and assurances of 
total loss; so that the more the soul desires to rest, the 
less it finds to rest upon — filled as it is with the strangest 
bitterness." 

The following also from Benjamin Pomeroy, one of the 
last of the Methodist giants, is to the point and will be 
better understood : "But in later years I have been made 
to rejoice in prospective good, foretokened in these sore 
trials ; and even at times have been happy in misery when 
the Spirit made me miserable or even permitted it, as that 
was a sign of God's hope for me, and that some higher 
and nobler purpose was yet to be wrought out in and 
through me; and if I could but survive the crucible, he 
would prepare me not only for more glorious revelations 



94 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

of the unseen and heavenly, but through these terrible 
prostrations and humiliations I should be so prepared that 
the abundant revelations should not exalt me above meas- 
ure ; that while honored with the reflection of Christ's 
glory, I might not be tempted to call it my own, or at- 
tribute the chief grace of God in me to hereditary or 
acquired gifts." 

AVe would here also add the following from Fletcher : 
"Our Lord 'was made a perfect Savior through sufferings,' 
and we may be made perfect Christians in the same man- 
ner. We may be called to suffer, till all that which' we 
have brought out of spiritual Egypt is consumed in a 
howling wilderness, in a dismal Gethsemane, or on a 
shameful Calvary. Should this lot be reserved for us, 
let us not imitate our Lord's imperfect disciples, who 'for- 
sook him and fled;' but let us stand the fiery trial, till all 
our fetters are melted, and all our dross is purged away. 
Fire is of a purgative nature : it separates the dross from 
the gold; and the fiercer it is the more quick and powerful 
its operation. * * * * Therefore if the Lord should suffer 
the best men in his camp, or the strongest men in Satan's 
army, to cast you into a furnace of fiery temptations, come 
not out of it till you are called. 'Let patience have her 
perfect work :' meekly keep your trying station till your 
heart is disengaged from all that is earthly, and till the 
sense of God's preserving power kindles in you such a 
faith in his omnipotent love as few experimentally know 
but they who have seen themselves, like the mysterious 
bush in Horeb, burning and yet unconsumed ; or they 
who can say with St. Paul, 'We are killed all the day 
long — dying and behold we live.' 

"Should thy conflicts be 'with confused noise, with 
burning and fuel of fire;' should thy 'Jerusalem be re- 
built in troublesome times ;' should 'deep call unto deep 
at the noise of his water-spouts ;' should the Lord 'shake 
not the earth only, but also heaven ;' should all his waves 
and billows go over thee ; should thy patience be tried to 
the uttermost ; remember how in years past thou hast 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 03 

tried the patience of God ; be not discouraged : an ex- 
tremity and a storm are often God's opportunity. A blast 
of temptation and a shaking of all thy foundations may 
introduce the fulness of God to thy soul, and answer the 
end of the rushing wind, and of the shaking, which for- 
merly accompanied the first great manifestations of the 
Spirit. The Jews still expect the coming of the Messiah 
in the flesh, and they particularly expect it in a storm. 
When lightnings flash, when thunders roar, when a strong 
wind shakes their houses, and the tempestuous sky seems 
to rush down in thunder showers; then some of them par- 
ticularly open their doors and windows to entertain their 
wished-for Deliverer. Do spiritually what they do carnally. 
Constantly wait for full 'power from on high ;' but es- 
pecially when a storm of affliction, temptation, or distress 
overtakes thee ; or when thy convictions and desires raise 
thee above thyself, as the waters of the flood raised Noah's 
ark above the earth ; then be particularly careful to throw 
the door of faith, and the window of hope as wide open 
as thou canst ; and, spreading the arms of thy imperfect 
love, say with all the ardor and resignation which thou 
art master of, — t 

" 'My h ;artstrirgs groan with deep complaint, 
My flesh lies panting, Lord, for trfee ; 
And every limb, and every joint, 
Stretches for perfect purity.' " 

Let us now examine a few passages that speak of 
temptations, trials, etc., and notice the close connection 
between these things and holiness. They bring forcibly 
to our minds the fact that all things can be made to work 
for our good. 

1. Chastening. The chastening of the Lord is given 
when some word has been spoken or some spirit either 
manifested or apparently manifested which was contrary 
to the love of God, or the rules of Christian propriety. 
It is directly given by God and causes the soul to feel 
reproved and humbled, if properly accepted. It is a blessed 



90 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

thing to live where we can hear the reproving voice of 
God and feel the fatherly stroke of his chastening rod. 
Comparatively few live in such a place. Paul says (Heb. 
12 :5, etc. ) , "My son despise not thou the chastening of 
the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for 
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening God 
dealeth with you as with sons. * * * * For they [our 
earthly fathers] verily for a few days chasteneth us after 
their own pleasure ; but he for our profit, that we might 
be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the 
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless 
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness 
unto them which are exercised thereby" The connection 
between holiness and chastening is here seen at a glance. 
The object God has in view in his chastenings is "that we 
might be partakers of his holiness." His reproofs con- 
stantly and faithfully administered, point out to us the 
numerous places in our lives where we can improve, leav- 
ing off the wrong and taking on the right ; they point out 
the inward tendencies to sin, if any remain ; they often 
cause pain, but in this the Lord only shows his earnest 
desire that we shall be like him. 

2. Tribulation. Paul says (Rom. 5:3-5) ; "We glory in 
tribulations also : knowing that tribulation worketh pa- 
tience ; and patience experience ; and experience hope : and 
hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is 
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is 
given unto us." Here the first step in the ladder is "tribu- 
lation," and the last is the "love of God shed abroad in 
our hearts by the Holy Ghost." This in its fulness is the 
experience they received at Pentecost. Tribulations are 
hard to bear, but if the soul resigns itself without reserve 
to be led by God, the end of such faith will be entire 
cleansing. So when tribulation comes decide that God has 
something in view for you that he cannot give in any other 
way, and be patient under the test. This will naturally 
beget a deeper experience ; and as experience increases, 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 97 

hope naturally bounds heavenward and takes away all 
shame; for the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by 
the Holy Ghost. 

3. Temptations and trials. James says (Jas. 1:2, 3) : 
"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall [not run] 
into divers temptations ; knowing this, that the trying of 
your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her 
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting 
nothing." He does not say that temptations are joy, but 
that we should ''count it all joy" when they come, put 
that much in the joy column, because they are for our 
good. They try our faith ; this trial of faith works pa- 
tience ; and when "patience has her perfect work" the soul 
is "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." The first round 
of this ladder is "divers temptations," and the last is per- 
fection — "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Then 
never complain again at your lot ; but, when you are 
tempted, look ahead for the excellent glory which God will 
reveal in you, after the temptation is passed, and rejoice. 

4. Sufferings. Peter says (1 Pet. 5:10) : "But the God 
of all grace, who hath called you unto his eternal glory 
by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make 
you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." Here is a 
ladder with five rounds. The first is suffering — "after ye 
have suffered a while," and the second is perfection — 
"make you perfect;" then follow three steps upward in 
this glorious experience — "stablish, strengthen, settle you." 
Almost any one who desires God at all would be willing 
to take the second and other upward steps, but most will 
naturally shrink from the first. We must take the first 
step of a journey, however, before we can take the second. 
Note the five steps of the ladder: (1) Suffering, (2) per- 
fection, (3) establishment, (4) strengthening, (5) settling. 
In writing to the Hebrews the author of the epistle, under 
the figure of Christ's sufferings, taught this same thing, 
and clearly shows what these sufferings are. "Jesus also, 
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suf- 
fered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him 



98 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

without the camp, bearing his reproach." The sufferings then 
are the reproaches of Christ, which Moses counted "greater 
riches than the treasures in Egypt." Again he says: "For 
it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are 
all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the 
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For 
both he that sanctifleth and they ivho are sanctified are all 
of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call them 
brethren" (Heb. 2:10, 11). Here it is clear that they "are 
all of one" from the fact that they all endure sufferings ; 
and since his sanctified ones endure sufferings "with him," 
"he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Who is willing 
to take this way with the "Captain of our salvation"? 

5. Infirmities. "And he said unto me, My grace is 
sufficient for thee : for my strength is made perfect in 
weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my 
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 
It is comparatively easy to see how the other things may 
help us, but how can our infimities be of any avail in 
helping us on to God? When we see our weakness, and 
the inability within ourselves . to accomplish anything 
aright, it drives us to our only refuge, the cross of Christ: 
so through the discovery of our weakness his "strength is 
made perfect" in us, and "the power of Christ rests" upon 
us. There are three steps in the above passage: (1) 
Weakness, or infirmities; (2) sufficient grace, (3) God's 
"strength made perfect." His perfect strength is displayed 
in us in perfect pardon and perfect cleansing, which is 
perfect victory over and deliverance from sin, inward and 
outward. This is holiness. 

Since it is written, "we must through much tribulation 
enter into the kingdom of God," let us thank God that "in 
all these things" we may be "more than conquerors," and 
that "none of these things shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ABANDONMENT OR CONSECRATION. 

In order to understand properly the requirements of 
God at this juncture it will be well to find out three things : 
(1) The condition of the seeking soul. (2) the nature of 
the experience he is seeking, and (3) the relation to God 
he now sustains and will sustain -when cleansed from all 
sin. 

First, the contract made with God by the seeker for 
pardon is complete, so far as the will and voluntary con- 
ditions are concerned. Its only lack is in the fact that 
the heart is unclean, the nature of sin causing involuntary 
movements contrary to the love of God. These involuntary 
movements or elements in the soul cause undue attach- 
ments to legitimate objects, as well as sinful leanings to- 
ward wrong objects. To illustrate : Conjugal love in itself 
is always right, but in the unclean soul there is a selfish 
or sensual element that vitiates it. Right affections never 
interfere with the pure love of God, but this sinful element 
of the soul causes the man involuntarily to place his wife 
either in some sense in the place that belongs to God. or 
to hold her in less esteem than he ought. The same prin- 
ciple is applicable to other matters. This is the real con- 
dition of the seeking soul. 

The second point necessary to settle is the nature of 
the experience for which the soul struggles. The answer 
to this inquiry is involved negatively in the foregoing para- 
graph. He seeks entire conformity to the nature of God ; 
or, rather, he seeks in its fulness the nature which God de- 
signs him to possess. He is. already "set apart," but he 
sees an element in his heart that pollutes the sacrifice. 

LOFC. 



100 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

Over this he mourns, and from this he seeks deliverance. 
He cries, 

" 'Tis worse than death my God to love, 
And not my God alone." 

When he gains the goal for which he strives his heart will 
be all love, with no admixture of inordinate affection ; a 
heart so clean that it naturally and without effort is 
as it should be; a heart which, so far as it rightly under- 
stands, loves no object either more or less than it should; 
which is centered in God, and moves not for one moment 
from that center. This is the experience he seeks, and 
which God will give him if he perseveres. 

The third question is as to the relation he does now, 
and will, when cleansed, sustain to God. The justified soul 
is at peace with God. He asks to know God's will, and 
when he knows, does it. But he is conscious that in his 
soul is an element not in harmony with God, and that 
hinders if it does not fully prevent him from doing God's 
will. He is God's child, but still has involuntary inward 
longings for things that are not good for him. The fact 
is that in the determinations of his will he is all God's 
property ; but there is within an involuntary principle that 
hinders him from being as completely lost in God's will 
as he sees he should be. Such is the relation he now sus- 
tains to God. 

In the experience of entire sanctification this involun- 
tary principle is removed, and the soul is "filled with all 
the fulness of God," and thereby "made perfect in love." 
Without a single qualifying condition the man is now God'3 
peculiar treasure; a royal diadem in the hand of his God, 
without a rival to dispute God's claims upon him. He 
has thirsted that all his being might be purified and given 
to God without even involuntary self-clingings or inclina- 
tions to wrong ; and now he realizes the fulfilment of his 
desires, and sees that all through his soul he is all God's 
property only and always God's. Such is the relation he 
will sustain to God when cleansed. 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 101 

Since this involuntary principle of the soul is not 
reached by anything that is done by the seeker for pardon, 
it must of necessity be reached by a deeper and more pene- 
trating action, and this is found in the abandonment of his 
entire being to God, that he may do with the individual 
as seems best in his wisdom and righteousness ; and when 
the seeker thus abandons himself to God, the blood is 
applied which purges away his inbred uncleanness. The 
definition of abandon is, "To forsake, or renounce utterly ; 
to give up wholly ; desert ; quit ; leave" ( Standard Diction- 
ary). There are absolutely no specifications as to what 
shall be done with the offering. The whole being is given 
to God, utterly renounced, and deserted. All, even in- 
voluntary claims, are quit, and God can do as he pleases 
with his property and not hear a single murmur because 
of his providences. 

When praying for pardon the seeker sees that he is 
wicked and has been used as a tool for the devil and sin. 
The desire of his heart is that his sins may be forgiven, 
and that he may be set apart from an unholy to a sacred 
use. But now, when seeking holiness, he sees that although 
in God's sight and also in the full purpose of his will he 
is already sacred property ; yet his sacredness has been 
defiled by the carnal, self life within, and that God has 
been hindered from having his perfect way. As a con- 
sequence, his prayer is that he may be thoroughly purged 
from inbred sin, to the end that he may serve God per- 
fectly. He is already sacred to God's use, but he desires 
to be where God can use him as he pleases, and with no 
inward foe to rival his claims. To this end he surrenders 
himself to the cross of crucifixion ; abandons himself to 
God without reference to the use God will make of him ; 
determines to quit even trying to dictate to God. His cry 
is, "O God, remove the thing that has hindered thee from 
having thy perfect way, and use me henceforth as thou 
dost choose, for joy or sorrow, for ease or pain." 

Let us look a little deeper into this glorious doctrine of 
abandonment, and, as we do so, we shall find beautiful 



102 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

things, if we view them from the victory side, but hard 
things, if viewed from the carnal side. Abandonment is 
the yielding of the attachments we have had for legitimate 
objects, — the wrong bias we have had for them. For in- 
stance, the idolatrous attachments one may have for the 
objects of his domestic love, the unclean leaven which may 
have polluted his conjugal or parental affections. It may 
seem to him that these objects of his love will actually go, 
but on the resurrection side he finds that, instead of this 
he loves them with a dearer, cleaner love. One must also 
die to the servile attachments he has had to the opinions 
of the saints or the creed of his church ; must die even to 
that sensual clinging he has had for spiritual delights, and 
which would substitute these pleasures for faith in God; 
for God will have our undivided confidence, and love and 
service. Some one has said that we must not only die 
to our sinful self, but also to our righteous self. 

Every one who gets a clear view of his own soul will 
find that, although grace cries for deliverance, there still 
remains within an element of evil, or a tendency to cling 
tenaciously to the self life, something that says, "I will 
not die." Carnality hates death. Grace says it must die, 
but nature stubbornly refuses. This unwillingness cannot 
be helped, it is the nature of the man of sin with which 
we are dealing. You can never expect to be rid of that 
feeling till you are rid of the carnal mind itself, for it is 
an essential element of that mind. Here the soul is liable 
to be tempted in the direction of supposing that, since 
there is an evil element that thus clings to life, no remedy 
can be found ; but, thank God, there is one — the blood of 
Jesus Christ. And we place ourselves in a position to re- 
ceive its merits by submitting to the crucifixion of self, 
or by self-abandonment. We voluntarily surrender this 
clinging, unclean nature to God for death, and that in 
spite of its own unwillingness. Despite the writhings and 
strong cries of nature to be permitted to live, in the voli- 
tion of our will we must hold it to the cross until the fire 
of the Holy Ghost consumes it. From God's side the 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 103 

remedy is always the blood; but man must cooperate witb 
God in order to obtain this benefit, and he does this by 
forcing his unwilling heart to stand under the burning 
rays of "the Sun of Righteousness" until the last remains 
of sin are withered and driven like firte dust from the 
heart forever. 

On this point Madam Guyon says : "For nature [carnal- 
ity] will make use of everything to sustain its life, as 
a drowning man will support himself in the water by cling- 
ing to the blade of a razor, without adverting to the paiu 
it causes him, if there be nothing else within his reach. * * 
* * God has unrelentingly pursued our [carnal] life into its 
covert hiding places ; for so malignant is it, that when 
hard pressed, it fortifies itself in its refuges, and makes 
use of the holiest and most reasonable pretexts for exist- 
ence; but being persecuted and followed into its last re- 
treat, in a few souls (alas how few!) it is obliged to aban- 
don them altogether." 

When bringing yourself to this point of abandonment 
it may be helpful to sing, — 

"0 God, my heart doth long for thee, 

Let me die ! Let me die ! 
Now set my soul at liberty, 

Let me die ! Let me die ! 
Die to the trifling things of earth, 
They're now to me of little worth, 
My Savior calls — I'm going forth, 

Let me die ! Let me die ! 

"Oh, I must die to scoffs and sneers, 

Let me die ! Let me die ! 
I must be freed from slavish fears, 

Let me die 1 Let me die ! 
So dead that no desire will rise 
To appear good or great or wise 
In any but my Savior's eyes, 

Let me die ! Let me die ! 

"If Christ would live and reign in me, 
I must die ! I must die ! 



104 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

Like him I crucified must be, 

I must die ! I must die ! 
Lord, drive the nails, nor heed the groans, 
My flesh may writhe and make its moans, 
But this the way and this alone — 

I must die ! I must die I 

"Begin at once to drive the nails, 

Let me die 1 Let me die ! 
Oh, suffer not my heart to fail, 

Let me die ! Let me die ! 
Jesus, I look to thee for power, 
T' enable me t' endure the hour, 
When crucified by sovereign power, 

I shall die! I shall die!" 

There is great need of this separation of the precious 
from the vile, and the seeker as he reaches this point sees 
it clearly. He sees how his "time, his strength, his all," 
has not been as fully God's as it should be; how his most 
holy actions have not been all for God; how he has loved 
souls, but not altogether with a disinterested love; how 
desire of praise or self-aggrandizement has influenced him 
to some extent all along ; and how his heart cries out with 
Faber, — 

"Oh, I could go through life's troubles singing, 
Turning earth's night to day, 
If self were not so fast around me clinging 
To all I do or say. 

"O Lord, that I could waste my life for others, 
With no ends of my own, 
That I could pour myself into my brothers 
And live for them alone. 

"Such is the life thou livedst, self -abjuring, 
Thine own pains never easing, 
Our burdens bearing, our just doom enduring, 
A life without self-pleasing." 

The following from Wesley, is clear as to this imper- 
fection of the service of the justified soul : "But let it be 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 105 

supposed that they continually 'watch and pray,' and so 
do not enter into this temptation ; that they constantly 
set a watch before the door of their mouth, and keep the 
door of their lips ; suppose they exercise themselves herein, 
that all their 'conversation may be in grace, seasoned with 
salt, and meet to minister grace to the hearers ;' yet do 
they not daily slide into useless discourse, notwithstanding 
all their caution ? And even when they endeavor to speak for 
God, are their words pure, free from unholy mixtures? 
Do they find nothing wrong in their intention? Do they 
speak merely to please God, and not partly to please them- 
selves? Is it wholly to do the will of God, and not their 
own will also? Or, if they begin with a single eye, do 
they go on 'looking unto Jesus,' and talking with him all 
the time they are talking with their neighbor? When they 
are reproving sin, do they feel no anger or unkind temper 
to the sinner? When they are instructing the ignorant, do 
they not find any pride, any self preference? When they 
are comforting the afflicted, or provoking one another to 
love and good works, do they never perceive any inward 
self commendation as 'Now you have spoken well'? Or any 
vanity, a desire that others should think so, and esteem 
them on that account? In some or all of these respects, 
how much sin cleaves to the best conversation even of be- 
lievers. * * * * 

"And how much of sin, if their conscience is thoroughly 
awake, may they find cleaving to their actions also? Nay, 
are there not many of these, which, though they are such 
as the world would condemn, yet cannot be commended, 
no, nor excused, if we judge by the word of God? Are 
there not many of their actions, which, they themselves 
know, are not to the glory of God? Many, wherein they 
did not even aim at this ; which were not undertaken with 
an eye to God? And of those that were, are there not 
many wherein their eye is not singly fixed on God? 
Wherein they are doing their own will, at least as much 
as his, and seeking to please themselves as much, if not 
more, than to please God? And while they are endeavor- 



106 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

ing to do good to their neighbor, do they not feel wrong 
tempers of various kinds? Hence their good actions, so- 
called, are far from being strictly such; being polluted 
with such a mixture of evil. * * * * 

"If any man is not satisfied with this, if any believe 
that whoever is justified is able to remove these sins out 
of his heart and life, let him make the experiment. Let 
him try whether, by the grace he has already received, he 
can expel pride, self-will, or inbred sin in general. Let 
him try whether he can cleanse his words and actions 
from all mixture of evil ; whether he can avoid all un- 
charitable and unprofitable conversation, with all the sins 
of omission ; and, lastly, whether he can supply the num- 
berless defects which he still finds in himself. Let him 
not be discouraged by one or two experiments, but re- 
peat the trial again and again ; and the longer he tries, 
the more deeply will he be convinced of his utter helpless- 
ness in all these respects. 

" * * Though we watch and pray ever so much, we can- 
not wholly cleanse either our hearts or our hands. Most 
sure we cannot till it shall please the Lord to speak to 
our hearts again, to speak the second time, Be clean : and 
then only the leprosy is cleansed. Then only, the evil 
root, the carnal mind, is destroyed ; and inbred sin sub- 
sists no more. But if there be no such second change, if 
there be no instantaneous deliverance after justification, 
if there be none but a gradual work of God (that there is 
a gradual work none denies), then we must be content, as 
well as we can, to remain full of sin till death." 

These strong words from Wesley, if taken with the 
context and in connection with his other writings, do not 
for a moment allow of wilful crookedness in life, thought 
or intention in the justified soul (such things as some 
people would make it appear that Wesley allows them 
to do), not to the least degree, but only go to show that 
while inherent depravity remains it will, to some extent, 
color the life and taint the desires. This is what we have 
called above the "involuntary principle" that hinders the 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 107 

person from being altogether "God's property." It is the 
"unholy leaven" that "taints the sacrifice." The sacrifice 
is acceptable to God, because it is the product of a willing 
heart and is the best the person has to give and all he 
has to give ; but it is not as pleasing as it icould be if it 
were "cleansed from all mixture of evil." 

Bishop R. S. Foster, in "Christian Purity," says : 
"Would you be holy, you must make up your mind to the 
crucifixion of every sin ; they must be surrendered and 
given to the cross and spear." 

Charles Wesley has also expressed the thought of aban- 
donment in some of his hymns on holiness. The following 
are instances : 

"Eager for thee, I ask, I pant, 

So strong the principle divine 
Carries me out with sweet constraint, 

Till all my hallowed soul is thine : 
Plunged in the Godhead's deepest sea, 

And lost in thy immensity." 

"Come, Lord, and claim me for thine own: 
Savior, thy right assert; 
Come, gracious Lord, set up thy throne, 
And reign within my heart. 

"The day of thy great power I feel, 
And pant for liberty ; 
I loathe myself, deny my will, 
. And give up all to thee. 

"I hate my sins, no longer mine, 
For I renounce them, too; 
My weakness with thy strength I join ; 
Thy strength shall all subdue. 

"So shall I bless thy pleasing sway, 
And , sitting at thy feet, 
Thy laws with all my heart obey, 
With all my soul submit." 

We close this chapter with a few passages from Madam 



108 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

Guy on and Archbishop Fenelon on the subject of abandon- 
ment. 

"God gives us the cross, and the cross gives us God. We 
may be assured that there is an internal advancement, 
when there is progress in the way of the cross ; abandon- 
ment and the cross go hand in hand together. As soon as 
anything is presented in the form of suffering, and yon 
feel a repugnance, resign yourself immediately to God with 
respect to it, and give yourself up to him in sacrifice : 
you will then find, that when the cross arrives, it will not 
be so very burthensome, because you have yourself de- 
sired it. This, however, does not prevent you from feeling 
its weight, as some have imagined : for when we do not 
feel the cross we do not suffer. A sensibility of suffering 
is one of the principal parts of suffering itself." 

" * * Suffer not yourselves to be attached to anything, 
however good it may appear ; it is no longer such to you, 
if it in any measure turns you aside from what God desires 
of you. For the divine will is preferable to every other 
good. Shake off, then, all self-interest, and live by faith 
and abandonment ; here it is that genuine faith begins 
truly to operate." 

"Thus does the soul ascend to God, by giving up self 
to the destroying and annihilating power of divine love. 
This is a state of sacrifice essential to the Christian re- 
ligion, in which the soul (i. e., self-life in the soul) suffers 
itself (because forced by grace coupled to divinity) to be 
destroyed and annihilated, that it (the soul) may pay 
homage to the sovereignty of God ; as it is written : 'The 
power of the Lord is great, and he is honored only by the 
humble.' By the destruction of self we acknowledge the 
supreme existence of God. We must cease to exist in self, 
in order that the Spirit of the Eternal Word may exist in 
us : it is by the giving up of our own life, that we give 
place to his coming ; and in dying to ourselves, he himself 
lives in us. 

"We must surrender our whole being to Christ Jesus, 
and cease to live any longer in ourselves, that he may be- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 109 

come our life; that being dead, our life may be hid with 
Christ in God. But how is it we are to pass into God? In 
no way but by leaving and forsaking ourselves, that we 
may be lost in him ; and this can be effected only by an- 
nihilation, which, being the true prayer of adoration, rend- 
ers unto God alone, all blessing, honor, glory, and power, 
forever and ever." 

"Whoever shall become acquainted with the admirable 
economy of grace and the wisdom of God in bringing man 
to a total sacrifice of self, will be filled with delight, and, 
insensible as he may be, will expire with love. Abandon- 
ment * * * is the key to the inner court, so that he who 
knows truly how to abandon himself will soon become 
perfect." 

The following is from Fenelon, who obtained the ex- 
perience of holiness under the teachings of Madam Guyon : 

"The abandonment of evil things, then, consists in re- 
fusing them with horror ; of good things, in using them 
with moderation for our necessities, continually studying 
to retrench all those imaginary wants with which greedy 
nature would satiate herself." 

"Having abandoned everything exterior, and which is 
not self, it remains to complete the sacrifice by renouncing 
everything interior, including self." 

"Herein consists true self-abandonment; it is this 
spirit of self -divesting, this use of ourselves and of ours 
with a single eye to the movements of God, who alone is 
the true proprietor of his creatures. You will desire to 
know, probably, what should be the practise of this re- 
nouncement in detail. But I answer that the feeling is no 
sooner established in the interior of the soul, than God 
himself will take you by the hand, that you may be exer- 
cised in self-renunciation in every event of every day. 
Self-abandonment is not accomplished by means of pain- 
ful reflections and continual struggles ; it is only by re- 
fraining from self-contemplation, and from desiring to 
master ourselves in our own way, that we lose ourselves 
in God." 



CHAPTER XV. 



FAITH. 



"Deep repentance is good," says Fletcher; "gospel self- 
denial is excellent; and a degree of patient resignation 
in trials is of unspeakable use to attain the perfection of 
love ; but as faith immediately works by love, it is of far 
more immediate use to purify the soul." 

When Peter stood up before the apostles and elders 
who were considering whether the Gentile converts should 
be circumcised, after mentioning how God had first chosen 
him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, he added: "And 
God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving 
them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us ; and put 
no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts 
by faith" (Acts 15:8, 9). 

St. Paul is also in accord with this when he says, "By 
grace are ye saved through faith." The same sentiment 
is voiced all through the New Testament. Faith is the 
great procuring cause of salvation on man's side. By it 
he appropriates to himself the benefits flowing from the 
atonement of Christ. 

But, as with everything else in the wonderful plan of 
salvation by grace, the devil and wicked men have suc- 
ceeded in so counterfeiting faith that we need carefully 
to distinguish between the genuine article and its base 
imitation. Because of much erroneous use of the term 
faith some honest people are afraid to mention it to 
seekers of holiness lest they should take up with some 
one of the modern uses which are neither reasonable nor 
scriptural. We need have little fear, however, if the con- 
ditions of salvation are properly laid down, the nature of 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 111 

saving faith carefully set forth, and the line of distinc- 
tion between faith and presumption clearly drawn. 

There is no difference in kind, or, of necessity, in de- 
gree, between the faith that justifies and that which sancti- 
fies. Saving faith, in these two acts of experience, does not 
differ as to its nature, but only in the object or end for 
which it is exercised. In the one act it is exercised 
for the forgiveness of sins, and in the other for 
the cleansing of the heart. The arguments and 
illustrations that apply to the one exercise will apply 
nearly if not quite as well to the other. Hence, in the 
quotations we shall soon give from Wesley and Fletcher 
the fact that at times they were talking to penitent sin- 
ners and at other times to Christians need cause no con- 
fusion. Sometimes they addressed both classes at once, 
using the same words to describe the faith of a seeking 
sinner and that of one seeking heart purity. 

I. Let us note what saving or sanctifying faith is not. 
It is not simply a mental assent to the general truths of 
redemption, that Jesus Christ lived, suffered, died for sin- 
ners, etc. Nearly everybody in Christianized countries be- 
lieves these things, but how few comparatively believe 
them with any saving effect. 

Faith is not simply acknowledging that Jesus died for 
me, and concluding that, as a consequence, I may be 
sanctified. We once knew a preacher to tell a man who 
believed that Jesus died for him, that because of this it 
might be that he had been saved at some time in the past 
— when he did not know it. Seekers are often urged to 
take Christ as their sanctifier, simply because he died for 
them, without a word being spoken about conditions that 
must be met before this faith can be exercised. Confusion 
and deception result almost inevitably from accepting such 
teaching. 

Faith is not believing without evidence. There is a 
method of argument sometimes used by some workers in 
order to persuade seekers that, because cleansing is prom- 
ised, they should declare the work done, and that if thev 



112 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

hesitate to do so, they thereby displease God. This reason- 
ing may at first glance seem plausible and honoring to 
God and his promises, but it is certainly a very insecure 
ground on which to build one's hope of full salvation. A 
passage from God's word should keep us from error at this 
point: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the wit- 
ness in himself" (1 John 5:10). Not "will have the wit- 
ness," but "hath" it now. We do not undervalue the prom- 
ises, but would suggest that they never save; they are 
grounds of and helps to faith, but it takes the merit of the 
blood of Christ to save. "Believing without the evidence," 
as taught by some, is likely to be believing an untruth. 

Faith is not merely resting on the promises, in the 
commonly accepted way of doing. Hungry souls are led to 
make a mental surrender of all, and then told to rest on 
the promises and wait for the witness, which they may ex- 
pect to come at any time. Some seeking souls are led by their 
teachers to repeat this process from time to time, but the 
expected blessing never comes ; and, finally, they give up in 
despair and are put down as backsliders ; or it may be 
they become fighters of holiness. 

Faith is not that easy-going, restful feeling sometimes 
miscalled "living by faith." People who accept this doctrine 
usually settle into a place where they can talk sweetly of 
Jesus, and can use honeyed phrases about the sweet place 
of rest they have found, while they woefully lack in de- 
votion, and in that breaking up of their hearts before God, 
without which the true "rest of faith" can never be at- 
tained. There is a sameness about their lives and testi- 
monies, never very high and never very low, which they 
mistake for holiness or sanctification. They never shed the 
fragrance, however, that comes from tarrying with the 
Lord, nor manifest the courage of those who have gained 
the victory over sin in a mortal conflict. The sweetness of 
a holy life is lacking. Emptiness and hollowness rather 
than the fulness of the Spirit are ruling characteristics. 
Oh, for the Spirit-filled life! 

Faith is not the laying of one's all on the altar, and 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 113 

there claiming the work done, feeling or no feeling. Those 
who teach this as the way like to sing, 

"My all is on the altar, 

And I'm waiting for the fire ; 
Waiting, waiting, 

I'm waiting for the fire." 

But the trouble is that the fire seldom if ever falls. More- 
over, this theory, that "the altar sanctifies the gift," when 
applied to seeking holiness is unscriptural. This appears 
from the following considerations. 

1. When Jesus used this expression he had no refer- 
ence to religious experience, but simply to the sacrifices of 
the temple. It is wrong to wrest a passage from its con- 
nection to make it teach any doctrine, no matter though 
that doctrine be right in itself, and clearly taught in other 
places. But this doctrine is taught in no passage of the 
Bible, not even by inference. Those who teach this theory 
use our Lord's words literally. There might be some ex- 
cuse if they were only used as an illustration, but even 
then the effect would not be changed. We are told that 
Christ is the altar, the seeker the gift, and, that as soon as 
the gift is placed on Christ the work of cleansing is done. 
But by a cold assent of the mind to say, "My all is on the 
altar," and then take the rest for granted, is going beyond 
the bounds of scripture and reason. We have no other way 
of knowing that the Lord completes his work but by the 
witness of the Spirit ; and if God really saves one he will 
without fail witness to the fact. It is he that should do 
the witnessing, and not ourselves. In this work there is a 
part that man does and a part that God does. If our con- 
sciences bear us witness that we have done our best, well 
and good ; but it is going too far to assume God's part, 
and, without his witness, to say the work is done. This 
leaves God entirely out of the matter so far as anything 
practical in the work of sanctification is concerned, and 
makes man's spirit the only witness. 

But with many who teach that "the altar sanctifies the 



114 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

gift" it is not Christ who is the altar, but rather an in- 
definite something like a mourner's bench, or a kind of 
sacrificial altar, upon which they put their time, talents, 
money, reputation, all they know, and all they do not know, 
for time and for eternity (and sometimes they put on their 
tobacco, jewelry, stylish dress, worldliness, secret societies, 
and what not), and then proceed to climb thereon them- 
selves and complacently sing, 

"My all is on the altar, 

And I'm waiting for the fire." 

2. Again, sanctification has two meanings : first, to set 
apart, to consecrate ; second, to purify or cleanse. The 
altar never cleansed the beast that was placed on it. That 
had to be done before the victim touched the altar, and 
when it touched the altar it became in a peculiar sense 
God's property, set apart for his worship, and was sancti- 
fied by the altar in that sense only. 

Dr. Daniel Steele has written as follows on this im- 
portant subject : "When a thing is laid on God's altar 
it is not purified, but only consecrated. When the phrase 
'I lay myself on the altar,' is used by a seeker of entire 
sanctification he has a wrong formula, for impurity has 
no place on the holy altar of God. Its place is in the 
cleansing stream issuing from the pierced side of the Son 
of God. In the Wesleyan sense no person in the scriptures 
was ever sanctified by being laid on the altar of God, or 
by touching it. The altar theory of sanctification is not 
found in the writings of either Wesley or in the volumes 
of his great defender, John Fletcher, nor in any of the 
standard Methodist theologians, Watson, Raymond, Pope 
and Miley. In fact it originated in America about the year 
1840, in the writings of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, who regarded 
it as a great discovery. It was her short way to entire 
sanctification. Christ is the altar; the altar sanctifieth the 
gift; lay yourself on the altar and you are sanctified. The 
error is in confounding the two meanings of sanctify, or 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 115 

in substituting purification, the work of the Holy Spirit, 
for consecration, man's work. * * * * 

"The more thoughtful friends of the precious doctrine 
of full salvation adhered to Wesley's statement that 'no 

ONE OUGHT TO BELIEVE THAT THE WOKK IS DONE TILL THERE 
IS ADDED THE TESTIMONY OF THE SPIRIT WITNESSING HIS EN- 
TIRE SANCTIFICATION AS CLEARLY AS HIS JUSTIFICATION.' 

That souls have experienced entire sanctification while as- 
serting 'the altar sanctifieth,' we do not deny. They had 
real faith in Christ despite the erroneous formula. But 
many have made the same assertion and have found them- 
selves in great perplexity. The altar theory has become 
a snare to them. Their faith was mere presumption, an 
unwarranted inference that God does his part because they 
have done their part, as they suppose. * * * * Many a per- 
son has, under erroneous instruction, thought that he laid 
himself on the altar and has been induced to say, 'The altar 
sanctifies the gift,' and has kept repeating this assertion 
for months and years, without realizing any inward change. 
Some continue thus till death, but many more in despair 
pass into a state of indifference and unbelief respecting 
the question of purity of heart in this life. Bishop William 
Taylor styles the altar theory 'the devil's switch just out- 
side the depot of full salvation, by which he switches off 
seeking souls, and causes them to wander round and round, 
and to fail of entering in.' The so-called holiness evangel- 
ist is strongly tempted to adopt this theory, because it en- 
ables him in his brief term of labor in any church to count 
up as sanctified as many as he can persuade to say, 'I am 
on the altar, and the altar sanctifies the gift." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FAITH — CONCLUDED. 

We proceed to note, — 

II. What saving or sanctifying faith is. 

There are always three aspects to the faith that saves, 
the historical, the expectant, and the appropriating fea- 
tures. 

1. Historical faith is that act of the intellect by which 
we give credence to the facts regarding Christ's person and 
mission, and to the sufficiency of his work to redeem the 
soul from sin ; also it is belief in the Being and attributes 
of God, and confidence in the Bible as the revealed will 
of God. Fletcher says it is the gift of the God of grace in 
the same sense as the senses of sight and hearing are the 
gift of the God of nature. He gives us our eyes and ears, 
but will not use them for us; and we may destroy them 
and thus destroy our power of seeing and hearing if we 
choose. This kind of faith is good as far as it goes, for 
without it none will ever seek God, and if they do not seek, 
they will not be saved. It is written, "He that cometh to 
God must believe that he is." This is historical faith. 

2. The next aspect of faith is that of expectancy. 
When the inspired penman said, "He that cometh to God 
must believe that he is," he also added, "and that he is 
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." To be saved 
or sanctified a person must not only believe the recorded 
facts about the person and works of Christ, but must also 
believe that, if he is diligently sought, he will be found. 
And this conviction must be put into practise. If it is, it 
will set the soul to mourning over its unclean condition, 
and expecting the deliverance God has promised. But 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 117 

many a person stands in this place for weeks, and even 
months, mourning his lack, and expecting the work to be 
done some time, but not now. But there must come a time 
when the soul momentarily expects the coming of the Lord 
into his temple, or the work will never be done. This 
makes way for that final, bold and effectual act of 
appropriation which evangelical Christians have been 
pleased to call "saving faith." 

3. Regarding this aspect of evangelical faith Fletcher 
says : "Justifying or saving faith is believing the saving 
truth icith the heart unto internal, and (as we have op- 
portunity) unto external righteousness, according to our 
light and dispensation." 

Wesley thus defines it : "Christian faith is, not only an 
assent to the whole gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance 
on the blood of Christ ; a trust in the merits of his life, 
death, and resurrection ; a recumbency upon him as our 
atonement and our life, as given for us, and living in us. 
It is a sure confidence that a man hath in God, that 
through the merits of Christ, his sins are forgiven, and he 
reconciled to the favor of God ; and in consequence hereof, 
a closing with him, as our 'wisdom, righteousness, sancti- 
fication, and redemption,' or, in one word, our salvation." 

There are three steps in saving faith which are clearly 
shown in the following chorus by Phoebe Palmer, which 
has been an iuspiration to perhaps hundreds of holiness 
seekers, 

"The cleansing stream I see, I see; 
I plunge, and oh, itcleanseth me." 

The three steps might be named as follows, — 1. The 
faith of apprehension, — "The cleansing stream, I see, I 
see." 2. The faith of reception or appropriation, — "I 
plunge." 3. The faith of acknowledgement, — "And oh, it 
cleanseth me." The act of faith is not completed till the 
soul acknowledges the cleansing to be done ; there are 
some traces of unbelief where this acknowledgement is 
lacking. It is the spontaneous "My Lord and my God" of 



118 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

the soul that completes or seals the act of faith ; so Paul 
says, "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

The heart peering timidly through the mist sees Christ 
and the flowing blood, and when it gets a glimpse of the 
object for which it has been searching so long its timidity 
takes flight, and the next natural step is to make a desper- 
ate plunge into the crimson flow, and the instant it strikes 
the fountain all through its ransomed depths it shouts and 
sings, " 'Tis done, it cleanseth me." 

The first step is God's revelation of himself to the long- 
ing gaze. And he reveals himself only when the seeker 
reaches the limits of God's requirements as to self-abandon- 
ment, and in his helplessness cries for divine assistance. 
"Man's extremity is God^s opportunity." So right at the 
limit of man's ability, and when he fully acknowledges 
his inability, God discovers himself to the inner eye of his 
soul. We may talk and reason about this, and say that 
if he had believed a week before he would have had the 
experience ; and we may try to argue people into believing 
as much as we please, but in spite of it all the fact re- 
mains that saying faith is impossible till the soul has 
reached the end of self and realizes its utter need of divine 
help. This may be sooner or later. Some may quickly 
and with comparative ease appropriate the blood to their 
needs, while others may struggle for days or weeks. One 
may be as honest as the other, but for some reason fails 
. to comprehend or apprehend the truth aright. It is the 
same with natural life. Some have but little vitality, and 
easily give way to death ! while others in much greater 
afflictions cling tenaciously to life, and only yield after a 
prolonged battle. Physical conditions in the same person 
may vary at different times, and one may fight successfully 
through a long siege that would have ended a less resolute 
person, and later succumb to some trifling ailment. 

So with the carnal nature. If we may so express it, 

the carnal mind exhibits a great amount of vitality, a de- 

♦ termined clinging to life, a refusal to die that hinders 

the Spirit ; but when the moment comes that the seeker 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 110 

arises and, with all his ransomed power and in the strength 
of God, decrees that now the enemy of his soul shall die, 
the efficacy of the blood will very quickly appear to faith's 
interior eye. Seeker, you can make that moment for you 
arrive sooner or later as you choose. If you will receive 
the full import of that scripture, "Now is the accepted time," 
and apply it as God desires you should, to your own case, 
you need not linger long outside of Canaan. Constantly 
turn your eyes toward heaven with the expectation that 
you will see the Christ of your desires coming to your as- 
sistance. Be in constant readiness to receive him. Keep 
the arms of your faith thrown wide, and fly to his breast. 
You will not be disappointed, for he will kindle in your soul 
the sacred fire of his presence, till, with the once doubting 
Thomas, you will cry, "My Lord and my God." Amen. 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, 
And looks to that alone ; 
Laughs at impossibilities, 

And cries, It shall be done ! 

"Obedient faith that waits on thee, 
Thou never wilt reprove ; 
But thou wilt form thy Son in me, 
And perfect me in love." 

The common error in the teaching of to-day concerning 
faith is not so much that of wrong analysis as that of mis- 
application. The divine order is, (1) apprehension, (2) re- 
ception, (3) acknowledgement. But in these days we too 
often have just the opposite order; (1) acknowledgement, 
(2) reception, (3) apprehension; which amounts to this, 
first, since you have done all you can, acknowledge that 
you are sanctified, for the altar sanctifies the gift ; then, 
as a consequence of your acknowledgement, you will receive 
the cleansing blood on your heart, and finally will appre- 
hend Christ's cleansing power. 

There is a sense in which apprehension follows recep- 
tion, but it is not in the sense of faith. The apprehension 



120 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

of faith sees Christ separate from itself, standing as its 
atonement, ready to cleanse, while the apprehension that 
follows faith sees him as the indwelling Christ revealing 
his nature and purity to the inmost soul — not to faith, but 
through faith to the consciousness of the soul. 

The proper foundation of faith is the Person of Christ. 
Spurious faith begins by saying or acknowledging that the 
work of grace is done, and professes thus to obtain the 
experience sought. But this cannot be. To say that the 
work of sanctification is done before it is really accom- 
plished is to make an untruth the foundation of its recep- 
tion. "He has done it," and, "He is doing it," are two 
different statements. In the former the person says the 
work is accomplished or finished now, which is untrue ; 
but in the latter he states that the work is being accom- 
plished now, which, at this stage, is true, for God always 
comes to the rescue as soon as the seeking soul gets on such 
grounds. The latter is faith, the former is presumption. 
This does not make the reception or the experience a 
gradual process, for the moment that the soul thus believes, 
the work is accomplished. 

Bishop R. S. Foster, in "Christian Purity," says, "You 
cannot rightly believe the work is accomplished before the 
evidence is produced in your soul." John Fletcher says, 
"Nobody can truly believe according to this dispensation, 
without being immediately conscious both of the forgive- 
ness of sins and of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." And 
again: "What is faith? It is believing heartily. What is 
saving faith? I dare not say that it is 'believing heartily,' 
my sins are forgiven me for Christ's sake ;' for if I live 
in sin, that belief is a destructive conceit, and not saving 
faith." 

Dr. Philip Schaff, in "The Person of Christ," says : 
"True faith is an act of God wrought in the soul by the 
Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ to us in his true character, 
as Christ has revealed the father." While we cannot agree 
that faith is an "act of God," yet it is given of God, and 
if God gives it he will surely allow no other foundation 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 121 

but himself ; while man's so-called faith is wrought up, 
and makes man its foundation. It is a common saying 
that if we would exercise the faith we naturally have we 
would be saved. There is no doubt that there is a great 
amount of faith that might be called natural, which is sav- 
ing in the sense that it is necessary in order to properly 
seek God, but it is not that exercise of the soul that is 
commonly called "saving faith ;" and as gospel light de- 
creases natural faith degenerates into credulity, and causes 
a person to believe the mythologies and absurdities of 
heathenism. All the true natural faith a man possesses is 
brought into exercise when one starts to seek God, but 
saving faith can not be exercised until man's part is done. 
All men have not saving faith, and no one can have it till 
he meets God's requirements. 

The following from Fletcher is clear on this subject : 
"As, on the one hand, it never came into my mind that 
an impenitent murderer can have even the saving faith 
of a heathen : so, on the other hand, it never entered my 
thoughts, that a penitent can believe with the faith of full 
assurance when he will : for this faith depends not only 
upon our general belief of the truth revealed to us, but 
also upon a peculiar operation of God, or revelation of his 
powerful arm. It is always attended with a manifestation 
of 'the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that 
we are the children of God.' And such a manifestation 
God in general grants to none but them that groan deeply 
under 'the spirit of bondage unto fear,' as Paul did while 
he remained blind at Damascus ; — or them that are pecu- 
liarly faithful to the grace of their inferior dispensation 
(justification), and pray as earnestly for 'power from on 
high' as the apostles did af£er our Lord's ascension." 

The Bible supports this excellent quotation. Paul says, 
"All men have not faith" (2 Thess. 3:2) ; clearly meaning 
that the "unreasonable and wicked men" of whom he spake 
were excluded from the class of persons who have faith, 
and that faith which one does not possess he surely cannot 
exercise, at least until he meets the requirements laid 



122 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

down in the word of God. And on the same grounds those 
who have in their hearts carnal tendencies unconf essed and 
uncrucified have not sanctifying faith, and cannot have it 
until so far as meeting conditions is concerned, their part 
is done. 

Charles Wesley represents the seeker of holiness as 
praying, 

"Open my faith's interior eye, 

Display thy power from above, 
And all I am shall sink and die, 

Lost in astonishment and love." 

Here he calls on God to open the interior eye of faith and 
give the soul power to discern, thus acknowledging that he 
cannot do it himself; and when the eye of faith is thus 
opened God displays his saving power before it, which when 
the soul sees, "all it is sinks and dies" at Jesus' feet, "lost 
in astonishment and love." 

Wesley, in his sermon on "The Scripture Way of Salva- 
tion," defines faith thus, "Faith in general is defined by 
the apostle, an evidence, a divine evidence and conviction 
(the word means both) of things not seen; not visible, not 
perceivable by sight, or by and other of the external senses. 
It implies both a supernatural evidence of God, and of the 
things of God, a kind of spiritual light exhibited to the 
soul, and a supernatural sight or perception thereof. Ac- 
cordingly the Scripture speaks of God giving sometimes 
light, sometimes a power of discerning it. So St. Paul, 
'God who commanded light to shine out of darkness hath 
shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge 
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' And else- 
where the same apostle speaks of 'the eyes of our under- 
standing being opened.' By this twofold operation of the 
Holy Spirit, having the eyes of our soul both opened and 
enlightened, we see the things which the natural 'eye hath 
not seen, neither the ear heard.' We have a prospect of 
the invisible things of God ; we see the spiritual world 
which is all round about us, and yet no more discerned by 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 123 

our natural faculties, than if it had no being: and we see 
the eternal world; piercing through the veil that hangs 
between time and eternity. Clouds and darkness then 
rest upon it no more, but we already see the glory which 
shall be revealed. * * * * It is certain, this faith neces- 
sarily implies an assurance (which is here only another 
word for evidence, it being hard to tell the difference be- 
tween them) that Christ loved me, and gave himself for 
me. For 'he that believeth' with the true, living faith, 
'hath the witness in himself.' * * * * But let it be observed 
that, in the very nature of the thing, the assurance goes 
before the confidence. For man cannot have a childlike 
confidence in God till he knows he is a child of God. There- 
fore, confidence, trust, reliance, adherence, or whatever else 
it may be called, is not the first, as some have supposed, 
but the second act or branch of faith." 

Much has been said of conviction and confession as 
necessary, and some would naturally ask, "If these things 
are done in seeking holiness, do you not attach at least 
some merit to their performance?" In reply let us quote 
the words of Wesley : "Though it be allowed, that both this 
repentance and its fruits are necessary to full salvation ; 
yet they are not necessary either in the same sense with 
faith, or in the same degree : not in the same degree ; — for 
these fruits are necessary conditionally, if there be time 
and opportunity for them ; otherwise a man may be sancti- 
fied without them. But he cannot be sanctified without 
faith. Likewise, let a man have ever so much of this re- 
pentance, or ever so many good works, yet all this does not 
at all avail : he is not sanctified till he believes : but the 
moment he believes, with or without those fruits, yea, with 
more or less of this repentance, he is sanctified. Not in the 
same sense ;— for this repentance and these fruits are 
only remotely necessary, necessary in order to the con- 
tinuance of faith, as well as the increase of it ; whereas 
faith is immediately and directly necessary to sanctifica- 
tion. It remains, that faith is the only condition, which 



124 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

is immediately and proximately necessary to sanctifica- 
tion." 

Yes, if a man will believe with more or less of these 
things the experience will immediately be given. But the 
natural heart, is so constituted that it will not acknowledge 
its own helplessness until it is forced to it, and as faith 
grasps that which is beyond man's natural power, it will 
not be exercised till he sees his weakness ; and in order 
that the seeker may see this and sink at Jesus' # feet, God 
is obliged to reveal to his inner eye his utter sinfulness, 
natural rebellion and hardness of heart, then when the 
merits of the blood are displayed before his longing vision 
he is ready to accept it, for it is now his only plea. 

Faith will never have anything of which to boast, for 
all former righteousnesses and efforts are as "filthy rags" 
in its sight, and the soul will instinctively recoil from 
every suggestion of self-glory. All his best efforts of the 
past are seen to be not only tainted with sin but impotent 
and insufficient to bring deliverance. As never before he 
realizes that man cannot make himself holy, and as never 
before he sees that "the blood is the life" of the soul. 

Then as you approach God for heart cleansing, if you 
have had a definite view of your sinful heart and confessed 
it to God, if you feel that in the volition of your will you 
are completely abandoned to all the will of God, — endeavor 
to pierce through the darkness of unbelief and see God, 
for at this moment he may be standing ready to reveal 
himself to your waiting heart. Do not be content till he 
does thus reveal himself. Do not be content with a cold, 
dry assent to certain promises, but tarry till your whole 
soul is filled with his love. You will not see him in bodily 
form standing before you, as the disciples saw him on the 
storm-tossed sea, but your spirit's eye will see him as a 
Redeemer from all sin, and the vision will be as clear 
and assuring as that of any material object can ever be. 

Jesus said, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way 
that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." It 
is not the "way of life," but "the way that leadeth unto 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 125 

life," tbat is strait and narrow. The way of life is out 
in the broad fields of infinite love. When you touch in- 
finity you are not hampered by walls nor bound by fetters, 
but you are brought forth into a large place, a place of 
broad rivers and streams, a place of green pastures, where 
you can eat bread without scarceness, and lie down with- 
out fear. 

But there is only one way into this broad place, the 
way of faith; and God shuts you up to this by shutting 
out everything else and hedging you up on every side. Be- 
fore sanctifying faith is exercised your soul must stand 
stripped and helpless. You have had much help in living 
for God, but you now see your holiest actions polluted with 
self and all uncleanness, until you turn away with loath- 
ing. You are tired of the manna of the wilderness, and 
long for the corn and wine of Canaan. Your manna has 
been tainted with the corrupting breath of inward sin. 
You have poured out your troubles to God until your heart 
is sick, and in utter abhorrence you turn away from the 
treacherous foe. You fear your own heart. You tremble 
at the possible consequences if you fail. 

You have almost unconsciously entertained good opin- 
ions of yourself, your abilities, your attainments, your 
spirituality, but now they all lie as refuse at your feet ; 
and, instead of being puffed up with fancied worth, you 
see yourself filled with a loathsome disease. You have had 
friends whom you loved most dearly, but now they are 
snatched away. You stand helpless and alone. And if 
you dare entertain a hope that there is help outside of 
God, your clamoring passions fling the lie at you. Dark- 
ness and burden seem to be your only lot. 

When Jesus hung on the cross, deserted by his friends, 
bleeding in every wound, sinking under the load of sin, and 
the sun refusing to behold the scene; humanity for whom 
he groaned mocking him to scorn ; hell's minions surround- 
ing and oppressing his spirit ; angels forbidden to minister 
to his needs; and finally, and worst of all, the Father's 
face withdrawn and he left alone to bear the curse for 



126 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

sinful men, it is no wonder that he cried in awful agony, 
and with breaking heart, "My God! My God! why hast 
thou forsaken me?" 

So you, in your finite sphere, if you would be "cruci- 
fied with Christ," will feel yourself deserted; and, seeing 
that divine justice burns against the inherent depravity of 
your heart, you, too, will feel like crying out, "My God! 
My God! why hast thou forsaken me?" Yet, faint not, 
thou favored one, God is only preparing you for the great 
things he has provided for you. Cry unto him "out of 
the depths." Search for the door of faith. Look for the 
blood. There is a refuge for you at his cross. 

An old adage says, "It is always darkest just before 
day." While this is not always true in experience, yet 
it is so apt to be true that when you see yourself beset 
on every side, and your Jerusalem is beset with armies, 
then flee to the mountains, to Jesus Christ ; he is ever very 
near. Abraham prepared his sacrifice and set himself to 
drive away the birds, until a horror of great darkness 
settled around him and a deep sleep overcame him ; then 
God came. Jacob wrestled all night till the break of day, 
and at last the angel unjointed his thigh; but he kept 
praying and did not let the angel go till he received the 
divine blessing. A great many of the mighty victories of 
the Bible followed the passing of the straits. So to all 
great attainments in God there is ever a narrow passage, 
in which the soul, divested of all other considerations, and 
shut up to "this one thing," falls prostrate and crawls 
through the "needle's eye" of faith into the Jerusalem of 
its desires. 

Let the following quotations from Wesley help you in 
fixing your eyes on the sin-destroying Lamb of God: "Now, 
faith is 'the demonstrative evidence of things unseen,' the 
supernatural evidence of things invisible, not perceivable 
by eyes of the flesh, or by any of our natural senses or 
faculties. Faith is that divine evidence whereby the spirit- 
ual man discerneth God, and the things of God. It is with 
regard to the spiritual world what sense is with regard to 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 127 

the natural It is the spiritual sensation of every soul 
that is born of God. * * * * 

"If you ask, 'Why then have not all men this faith? 
all, at least, who conceive it to be so happy a thing? Why 
do they not believe immediately?' We answer (on the 
Scriptural hypothesis), 'It is the gift of God.' No man is 
able to work it in himself. It is a work of omnipotence. 
It requires no less power thus to quicken a dead soul than 
to raise a body that lies in the grave. It is a new creation, 
and none can create a soul anew but he who at first created 
the heavens and the earth. 

"May not your own experience teach you this? Can 
you give yourself this faith? Is it now in your power to 
see, or hear, or taste, or feel God? Have you already, 
or can you raise in yourself, any perception of God, or 
of an invisible world? * * * * 

"Now, is there any power in your soul whereby you 
discern either these or him that created them? Or, can 
all your wisdom and strength open an intercourse between 
yourself and the world of spirits? Is it in your power to 
burst the veil that is on your heart, and let in the light 
of eternity? You know it is not. You not only do not, 
but cannot, by your own strength, thus believe. The more 
you labor so to do, the more you will be convinced 'it is 
the gift of God.' " 

"Again : "But what is that faith whereby we are sancti- 
fied, saved from sin, and perfected in love? It is a divine 
evidence and conviction, first that God hath promised it in 
the Scripture. Till we are thoroughly satisfied of this, 
there is no moving one step farther. 

"It is a divine evidence and conviction, secondly, that 
what God hath promised he is able to perform. Admitting, 
therefore, that 'with men it is impossible' to 'bring a clean 
thing out of an unclean,' to purify the heart from all sin, 
and to fill it with all holiness ; yet this creates no difficulty 
in the case, seeing 'with God all things are possible.' And 
surely no one ever imagined it was possible to any power 



128 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

less than that of the Almighty! But if God speaks it shall 
be done. 

"It is, thirdly, a divine evidence and conviction that 
he is able and willing to do it now. And why not? Is not 
a moment to him the same as a thousand years? He can- 
not want more time to accomplish whatever he will. And 
he cannot want to stay for any more worthiness or fitness 
in the persons he is pleased to honor. We may therefore 
boldly say, at any point of time, 'Now is the day of sal- 
vation.' 

"To this confidence, that God is both able and willing 
to sanctify us now, there needs to be added one thing more, 
a divine evidence and conviction, that he doeth it. In 
that hour it is done : God says to the inmost soul, "Accord- 
ing to thy faith be it unto thee.' 

" * * * * Thou therefore look for it every moment! 
Look for it in the way above described : in all those good 
works whereunto thou art 'created anew in Christ Jesus.' 
There is then no danger ; you can be no worse, if you are 
no better for that expectation. For were you to be dis- 
appointed for your hope: it will come, and will not tarry. 
Look for it then every day, every hour, every moment ! 
Why not this hour, this moment? Certainly you may look 
for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this token 
you may certainly know whether you seek it by faith or 
by works. If by works, you want something to be done 
first before you are sanctified. You think, I must first be 
or do thus or thus. Then you are seeking it by works 
unto this day. If you seek it by faith, you may expect 
it as you are; and if as you are then expect it now. It is 
of importance to observe, that there is an inseparable con- 
nection between these three points. Expect it by faith, 
Expect it as you are, and Expect it now! To deny one of 
them is to deny them all. To allow one, is to allow them 
all. Do you believe you are sanctified by faith? Be true 
then to your principle ; and look for this blessing just as 
you are, neither better nor worse ; as a poor sinner that 
still has nothing to plead, but Christ died. And if you look 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 129 

for it as you are, then expect it now. Stay for nothing: 
why should you? Christ is ready; and he is all you want. 
He is waiting for you : he is at the door ! Let your inmost 
soul cry out, 

" 'Come in, come in, thou heavenly guest ! 
Nor hence again remove ; 
But sup with me, and let the feast 
Be everlasting love.' " 

The following, from Fletcher's "Christian Perfection," 
is also to the point : "If a momentary display of Christ's 
bodily glory could, in an instant, turn Saul, the blasphem- 
ing, bloody persecutor, into Paul, the praying, gentle 
apostle ; if a sudden sight of Christ's hands could, in a 
moment, root up from Thomas' heart that detestable resolu- 
tion, 'I will not believe;' and produce that deep confession 
of faith, 'My Lord and my God!' what cannot the display 
of Christ's spiritual glory operate in a believing soul, to 
which he manifests himself, 'according to that power where- 
by he is able to subdue all things to himself "? 

And again : "From the preceding observations, it ap- 
pears that believers generally go to Christian Perfection 
as the disciples went to the other side of the sea of Galilee. 
They toiled some time very hard, and with little success, 
but after they had 'rowed about twenty-five or thirty fur- 
longs, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He said to 
them, "It is I, be not afraid." Then they willingly re- 
ceived him into the ship ; and immediately the ship was 
at the land whither they went.' Just so we toil till our 
faith discovers Christ in the promise, and welcomes him to 
our hearts ; and such is the effect of his presence, that 
immediately we arrive at the land of perfection." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

Upon the reception of the Spirit's witness to the cleans- 
ing of the heart depends all certainty regarding the ex- 
perience of holiness. Its reception marks an epoch in our 
lives, and can always be pointed to as the time when the 
work was done. A failure to receive this witness is one 
great reason for so much unsteadiness and uncertainty. 
In the majority of cases a careful, honest investigation of 
one's own heart will reveal the fact that what has been 
called "up-and-down" experience has really sprung from 
the fact that no direct witness of the Spirit has ever been 
received. Since the witness always accompanies the work, 
we are forced to the conclusion that many if not the great 
majority of those who vacillate in this experience were 
never in reality cleansed. 

The first thing necessary to settle in seeking this ex- 
perience is, that you will never stop short of the positive 
witness inwrought by the Holy Ghost. Endeavor to the 
best of your ability to comprehend the fact of the witness. 
You can no more comprehend the witness itself before it 
is given than could you comprehend the witness of justi- 
fication before its reception. But you can grasp the fact 
that the witness will be clear, and settle it within your- 
self never to stop short of it. 

Two things may be depended upon : 1. Anything short 
of the real witness must be unsatisfactory. One's experi- 
ence may be wonderful, it may be glorious, it may come 
suddenly and flood the soul, and at the time swallow the 
whole being to such an extent that there will not seem to 
be anything lacking; but after a while, when trials come 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 131 

thick and fast, there will be an indefiniteness about it and 
such a sameness with other blessings that have been re- 
ceived that the heart grows dissatisfied, and will long for 
some positive assurance that the work has been wrought. 
A sense of incompleteness will come over the soul at times 
that will be painful ; a sense of indefiniteness will also be 
felt concerning the experience of perfect love which will 
be disappointing and oppressive ; while at times, it may 
be, a consciousness of remaining impurity, expressing itself 
in word, act or motive, w T ill disturb the soul like a horrid 
nightmare. Some blessing may be given, and because of 
this the seeker argues these feelings away as temptations, 
and settles back into the old rut of professing holiness 
without its power in the heart. 2. There is, on the other 
hand, a sweet, satisfying definiteness in the witness of the 
Spirit that is received in no other way. The blessing at 
the time of its reception may not be nearly so great as 
blessings received on former occasions, but the clear, divine 
testimony that the desired work of grace has been wrought 
in the soul fully makes up for the lack of emotion and 
moves the soul to thankfulness. 

We may now proceed to consider what the witness of 
the Spirit is. 

1. The witness of the Spirit may or may not be ac- 
companied by a flood of ecstasy. In perhaps the majority 
of cases it is not. It is a mistake for persons to set seekers 
to hunting for a landslide of joy, for it may be that this 
will not be God's way of working. When they are seek- 
ing a good feeling they naturally seize the first blessing 
that is received and label it holiness, when, as Fletcher 
says, they may simply have their imperfections covered 
with a landslide of peace and joy in believing, and the 
old fires of carnality be still smoldering within. Remember 
this, Saved people get great blessings, and if you have kept 
clear you have had them yourself all along, and this may be 
an additional one given at this especial time. Certainly it 
will do no harm to carefully examine its characteristics. 
Wesley mentions this point in "Christian Perfection," where 



132 LESSONS OR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

he says, "Some have much love, peace, and joy, yet have not 
the direct witness." Let us ask some questions : 1. Was 
the blessing just like those you received before? Some 
persons say that the blessing received in obtaining holiness 
is just the same as that received in justification. But this 
is not necessarily true. The states are different, and the 
work wrought is different. One is forgiveness, and the 
other cleansing. The blessings received during justification 
are testimonies to acceptance, while this is a testimony 
to purity. The Israelites ate manna in the wilderness, but 
as soon as they crossed the Jordan they ate old corn, and 
grapes, and honey, and oil, and drank milk. If you are 
really hungry for holiness, you cannot be satisfied with 
the manna of justification ; and, while you are very thank- 
ful for all God's favors, there is something now unsatis- 
factory in the blessings that formerly delighted you. There 
is a difference, there must be a difference ; not that it is 
given by a different person, for it is not, but in that it is 
received in a differently conditioned vessel, and is the evi- 
dence of a different state. 

2. Is this blessing satisfying? There is something 
wonderfully satisfying about the blessing of holiness, if 
you wish to call it by that name. It stands to reason that 
although the blessings received during the justified life 
are remarkable, yet they lack a certain element of satis- 
factoriness. If they do not, why should additional satis- 
faction be sought? But in the experience of holiness God 
"satiates" the souls of his children. There is nothiug lack- 
ing that would or could make it more perfect in the soul's 
eye. Now do not understand us to say that the blessing 
will be so great that you will desire no more, but the wit- 
ness is so satisfactory that nothing more is necessary to 
full assurance and perfect rest. The quality is perfect, for 
it is Christian perfection. 

(3). But this thought must be qualified, for some 
people's ideas of satisfaction are pitched too low, while 
some are too high. What is your standard of satisfaction? 
If it is in the definite witness to holiness, it will take that 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 133 

to fill the demand; but if it is just a blessing, the first 
stirring of your emotions will cause you to think that you 
have reached the summit of Christian attainment. We 
have talked with sinners, who declared that they were 
satisfied; and with formal professors who were so "settled 
on their lees" that they sanctimoniously declared that they 
wanted no more, that they had enough religion to do them ; 
with others who clung to their inherent depravity and were 
satisfied to let it remain. But if the Ultima Thule of 
your desires is true Christian perfection, you will not be 
satisfied until that goal is reached. So be sure your ideas 
are based upon proper conceptions of the truth before you 
declare that the satisfaction that comes to you is the limit 
of your possibilities in God. 

4. Was the blessing you received accompanied by the 
Spirit's witness to the definite work of inwrought holi- 
ness? This is important. The blessing one receives may 
be great, powerful, and, in some sense satisfactory, but 
if it lacks this essential element, it is not the witness of 
purity. Visions, ecstasies, raptures, trances and various 
other manifestations, may be received in the justified state. 
Hence these are not evidences of purity. Unless the direct 
witness of the Spirit attests it there it no sure evidence of 
entire sanctification. 

5. You may say, "Yes, it was a definite witness." But 
let us ask again, Did this witness abide? Was this pres- 
ence of the Holy Comforter permanent? Or, did the edge 
wear off in a few days and leave you as uncertain about 
your standing as ever? Granted, that this may be caused 
by temptation, there is this difference : if you are clean, 
though the temptation may be severe, yet if you hold 
steady, you will shortly come out from under it, and, 
upon examination, will find that the witness is as clear 
as it was before the temptation came ; but if it be true that 
your heart is unclean, the passing away of the tempta- 
tion will still leave you in doubt, and you will find your 
supposed evidence clouded, and not even as bright as 
it seemed before. 



134 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

Again : close, cutting truth may cause deep heart 
searching, but the deeper the search the clearer the real 
evidence will shine, for God's truth is never against his 
witness. The Spirit and the word agree. If you are 
forced to ignore truth in order to keep your evidence, the 
trouble is lack of the divine witness. The Comforter comes 
to abide. Does he abide with you, not merely in ecstasies, 
but in fact? 

It is not well to be so hasty and over-anxious about 
the experience that you will call the first little stirring 
of your emotions holiness. Of course, if we ask a fish God 
will not give us a serpent. But God gives only "according 
to our faith." As Fletcher says, in substance, "If one 
deluge of sanctifying grace will purify the soul it is well, 
but if not we should continue to seek until it is purified." 
We have known persons who apparently did not have the 
full light God intended them to have, but who would pray 
earnestly for some time, and, seemingly come to the end 
of all they knew, when their faith would lay hold of God 
and a great blessing would be received. This would be 
immediately, or soon after, followed by additional light, 
a deeper plunge into God, and a greater knowledge and 
abhorrence of self. This would be repeated time after 
time, until, at last they would wade boldly into the cleans- 
ing stream and come out whole. Then do not be too hasty 
to claim the experience. Unless the witness of the Spirit 
is clear it is possible that your faith only grasps a greater 
measure of justifying grace than formerly. Test it by 
the rule of God-given certainty. 

Again, though you hear, or think you hear, some voice, 
and even though some comforting passages of scripture 
impress themselves upon your mind, it does not necessarily 
follow that you have the witness. Passages of scripture 
may or may not thus come to you, and the devil is always 
handy, ready to whisper in your ears. There is something 
better than either in the direct witness of the Spirit. 

We now pass to consider more particularly the positive 
side of the question. We would define the witness of the 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 135 

Spirit as the testimony of the Holy Spirit to our inner man, 
assuring us that all carnal tendencies are gone from the 
heart, and that Jesus Christ reigns there alone. 

(1) It is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Man would 
substitute his own spirit, and say, "Because such and such 
things are true in my heart I am clean." But this is too 
shallow. Some would substitute scripture, and say, "Be- 
cause the Bible says, 'Now is the day of salvation,' etc., 
of course it must be done." Others would substitute plaus- 
ible arguments, and think, "I have done so and so, and 
therefore God must have done his part." Again, others 
would substitute the opinions of the brethren, and say, 
"They think I am clean, therefore it must be true." But 
all such persons lean on a broken reed. The witness needed 
is the direct, personal testimony of the Holy Spirit him- 
self. He does not trust his work of witnessing with us, 
with our neighbor, or with the scriptures, but does it 
himself. So, unless you come in contact with and receive 
the witness of the Holy Ghost, you may be sure that the 
work is not done, no matter how happy you may be. The 
Holy Ghost himself is our sanctifier and witness-bearer. 

(2) It is the testimony of the Holy Ghost to our inner 
man. There is something too cold and dead about much 
of the so-called holiness of to-day. The mind reasons well 
of God, the tongue speaks well of the Holy Ghost, and the 
sensibilities are stirred by thoughts of the Comforter ; but 
"the inner man" is still more, or less carnal, and never 
comes in full sanctifying contact with God the Holy Ghost. 
While the mind staggers out blindly into the unsearchable 
riches of Christ, the poor heart remains behind, cold and 
indifferent, a mill-stone hanged about the neck of faith. 

Two questions should now be answered by those who 
profess to be sanctified : First, When you were seeking, 
did you come in contact with that third Person of the 
Trinity, the Holy Ghost, and did he in his own way speak 
to you? Second, did he bear witness with your spirit, with 
your inner man, or was it some mere moving of the mind 
or stirring of the senses that you experienced, and which 



136 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

departed as soon a§ you left the building? Was the mighty 
deep of your soul broken up, and did the Spirit of God 
as a matter of certainty with you move on the face of its 
troubled waters? 

(3) It is a direct revelation. The Bible is a revelation 
from God, but it comes to us through the medium of human 
utterances expressed with paper and ink. But this wit- 
ness of the Spirit is a direct revelation — an assurance con- 
veyed immediately to the soul by the Spirit. My letter to 
my friend is an indirect revelation, but speaking to him 
my voice is more direct. God's witness, however, is more 
direct than either of these. I convey my ideas through the 
medium of my letter or my voice, l*at God is limited to 
no such means, for by his personal, divine incoming he 
reveals in and by himself the things that concern my soul. 
As the spirit of man understands the things that are in 
him, so now the Spirit of God causes tLie spirit of man to 
know the divine witness which the Spirit bears within him. 
Nothing else can be so direct, so powerful, so convincing. 
Our outward senses may deceive, but when the divine wit- 
ness is given it is sure. They are deceived who, without 
having received this heavenly witness, claim the experience 
of full salvation. The true witness of the Spirit is from 
God ; yea, it is God himself within the soul. 

(4) But this witness is a direct revelation of a fact. 
It is not an indefinite stirring of the sensibilities, but 
God witnessing to the fact of an inwrought work of grace. 
It conveys one definite assurance — that the work of holi- 
ness has been definitely wrought in the heart and con- 
tinues to be an accomplished fact. 

But this work of holiness to which the Spirit bears 
witness has two aspects — negative and positive. Consider, 

First, the negative. "The carnal tendencies are all 
gone." After all, this is the great thing that has been 
troubling the heart for so long, as the poor, frightened 
soul has been crying, "Oh, how I hate these lusts of mine !" 
Now the great Cleanser, the Holy Ghost, the onl^ person 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 137 

in the universe who can attest such a thing, says, in effect, 
"It is done." The soul then cries out in surprise, 

" 'Tis done, the great transaction's done." 

There may be no searching of the soul at present to 
find one thing after another gone, but this one great fact 
assured displaces all other considerations, "My heart, 
which was a cage of unclean birds, is now made clean. 
Glory be to God." • 

Second, the positive aspect. Jesus Christ reigns un- 
rivaled and alone in the heart and life. No more of self ; 
no more stirrings of pride, impatience, jealousy, lust and 
all the horrid train ; but Jesus Christ has taken the throne 
in the heart and will henceforth govern it as he wishes. 
All hail, thou Galilean King! Welcome to thy rightful 
throne. Sit thou as Lord over all. Amen. The Holy 
Spirit testifies to this fact in the inmost soul, and "we 
know that his witness is true." 

It is not necessary that there should be any great stir- 
rings of the emotions, but on the contrary the emotions 
that were so lately stirred to their very depths may now 
settle into a heavenly calm ; and upon the surface of the 
soul's sea there may not be the rippling of a wave. The 
tempest has ceased. "The Master of ocean and earth and 
sky" uttered his voice, and, at the sound of his "Peace, 
be still," "immediately there was a great calm." There 
may be no sense of fulness, but, on the contrary, of empti- 
ness and loss. From this comes the doctrine of two works 
in one, first cleansing, second filling or the baptism of fire. 
But the soul that is made clean is occupied by God. The 
conscious fulness of the Spirit that will come afterward 
may not be realized, but God fills the soul that is all his 
own, and from that very moment carnality goes, and the 
fire of perfect love begins to burn on the heart's altar, 
which need never go out. You will doubtless be more 
conscious of this love at certain times than at other times, 
but God constantly dwells in his temple, nevertheless. 



138 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

Let us now pass to speak again of some of the accom- 
paniments of this witness, always bearing in mind that 
these are not the witness, but that the true witness of the 
Spirit is an inward, divine testimony that the work is 
accomplished. 

1. This witness may be accompanied by a flood of 
glory. There are numerous testimonies to this fact, al- 
though this is not the general experience. Since God 
chooses for reasons "known to himself sometimes to ac- 
complish his work in this way, it is all right ; but you 
must be sure not to take your eyes from the work God 
has wrought in order to enjoy its blessings. There is 
danger of this being the case. The work of holiness is 
so great and so important that God wants you to see that 
it is he who does it, that you may henceforth give him the 
glory. Thank God for the blessings, but thank him more 
for the grace of "perfect love." 

2. It may be, and perhaps generally is, accompanied 
by a sense of cleanness. As cleansing is that work for 
which we seek, it is natural that a sense of cleanness in- 
wrought by the Holy Ghost would be taken as an evidence. 
But this sense of cleanness is not always an evidence of 
entire sanctification. There is a purifying process and a 
certain sense of cleanness experienced by the soul which 
is freely justified. This is cleansing, but not entire cleans- 
ing. When the sense of cleansing accompanies the evi- 
dence of holiness it is peculiarly adapted to the circum- 
stances, and reveals the fact that the "King's daughter 
is all glorious within." 

3. The witness may be, and perhaps generally is, accom- 
panied by a sense of the blood of Christ flowing over the 
soul. It is by merit of the shed blood applied to the believing 
soul by the Holy Spirit that the work of full salvation 
is accomplished, and it is natural to suppose that some- 
times at least the evidence will be accompanied by a con- 
sciousness of this fact. Through all your soul, so lately 
appearing in your own eyes as a charnel house, full of all 
uncleanness, you feel the warm, penetrating, searching 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 139 

virtue of the blood, cleansing, purifying as is goes, until 
the whole soul glows with heavenly fire, and the last 
trace of coldness is gone. 

"Oh, the blood, the precious blood, 
That Jesus shed for me, 
Upon the cross in crimson flood, 
Just now by faith I see." 

And not only do you now see it by faith, but your soul has 
come in actual contact with its sin-killing tide, and sinks 
before God as wax melted before the fire. Hallelujah! 
"Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 

4. The witness may be accompanied by a sense of 
emptiness. This will often be the case with those who 
get such an overwhelming view of their inward pollutions 
that they seem to themselves to be filled with a loathsome 
disease. When carnality is destroyed they feel empty 
and clean, as though their souls were almost hollow, when 
in fact they are only 

"Emptied that he might fill them, 
As forth in his service they go." 

In this condition souls are apt to be tempted that they 
never will be able to do anything again ; but hold still and 
in God's good time he will anoint you with fresh oil and 
make you strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 

5. The witness of the Spirit may be accompanied by 
a holy awe. When your soul views the work done, and 
realizes its immensity, the infinitude of the cost, and its 
far-reaching results, it sinks in awe before the holy Being 
who could accomplish such a wonder, or cries out in rapture, 
as angels might do, while glory after glory of the Al- 
mighty is unfolded before their astonished vision. You 
never thought of him on this wise? Ah, he has just com- 
menced to reveal himself. Greater things will follow, if 
you persevere. 

6. The witness will also be accompanied by a deep 
sense of abasement. When the soul is stripped of its 



140 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

pride, its self-sufficiency, of all its own works, instead 
of taking the flight that it was expecting, it falls as a 
worthless slave at the feet of its conqueror, and at the 
feet of all others for that matter. This sense of abase- 
ment is so opposite to what the experience of holiness is 
generally conceived to be that it may cause some trial 
of faith. But God knows just what we need, and will 
humble our souls till such a time as he sees that we should 
be exalted. 

7. Or, again, this witness may be accompanied by 
abounding love glowing in the soul like a furnace of fire. 

There are in some cases other accompaniments of the 
Spirit's testimony, but whether any particular one or all 
of them are present makes very little difference, since the 
real evidence of full salvation is the direct testimony of 
the Holy Spirit. This cannot be explained to the satis- 
faction of one who has never received it, but is clear to 
him who has. 

It will be helpful to try your supposed evidence of 
entire sanctification by the following tests : 

1. Does it assure you of the purity of your soul? The 
witness of the Spirit does this, as we saw above. 

2. Is it a definite testimony, or is it vague and mysti- 
fying? 

3. Is it unmistakable? The true witness of the Spirit 
is clear and infallible. 

4. Is it positive? Not in that positiveness that says, 
"I am clean, no matter what any one says," but in that 
positiveness that can stand the most searching and thor- 
ough investigation and come forth without loss. 

5. Do you recognize it as God himself witnessing with 
your soul ? 

6. Does it bring a sense of completeness, a feeling that 
your struggles against sin and for cleansing are ended, 
and that the work is at last accomplished? 

Once again, the real evidence is internal. It does not 
come with a rush and din, with noise and bluster nor 
with pompousness of any kind, but "in all lowliness and 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 141 

meekness," speaking like a "still small voice" in the in- 
most soul. 

This witness also reaches the consciousness. Nor does 
it travel through the medium of the senses, the intellect, 
nor any other intervening thing, but directly reaches the 
center of being and from thence transmits the message to 
the intellect and sensibilities. It goes to the center of 
being and becomes, as it were, a part of one's self. We 
know it because it is the very knowledge of ourselves : 
and from this center of operations the Holy Spirit diffuses 
his sweet, holy presence through the whole being, as the 
odor of a fragrant perfume diffuses itself through a room. 

The following, from Wesley, is clear on the witness of 
the Spirit to the work of entire sanctification : 

"Q. How do you know that you are sanctified — saved 
from your inbred corruption? 

"A. I know it no otherwise than I know that I am justi- 
fied. 'Hereby know we that we are of God [in either sense] 
by the Spirit that he hath given us.' 

"We know it by the witness and by the fruit of the 
Spirit. And, first, by the witness. As, when we were 
justified the Spirit bore witness with our spirit that our 
sins were forgiven, so when we were sanctified he bore 
witness that they were taken away. Indeed, the witness 
of sanctification is not always clear at first (as neither 
is that of justification) ; neither is it afterward always 
the same, but, like that of justification, sometimes stronger 
and sometimes fainter. Yea, and sometimes it is with- 
drawn. Yet, in general, the latter testimony of the Spirit 
is both as clear and steady as the former. 

"Q. But what need is there of it, seeing sanctification 
is a real change, not a relative only, like justification? 

"A. But is the new birth a relative change only? Is 
not this a real change? Therefore, if we need no witness 
of our sanctification, because it is a real change, for the 
same reason we should need none that we are born of, or 
are, the children of God. 

"Q. But does not sanctification shine by its own light? 



142 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

"A. And does not the new birth, too? Sometimes it 
does. And so does sanctification ; at others it does not. 
In the hour of temptation Satan clouds the work of God 
and injects various doubts and reasonings, especially in 
those who have either very weak or very strong under- 
standings. At such times there is absolutely need of that 
witness, without which the work of sanctification notj 
only could not be discerned, but could not longer subsist. 
Were it not for this the soul could not then abide in the 
love of God; much less could it rejoice evermore and in 
everything give thanks. In these circumstances, there- 
fore, a direct testimony that we are sanctified is necessary 
in the highest degree. 

" 'But I have no witness that I am saved from sin, 
and yet I have no doubt of it.' Very well. As long as 
you have no doubt it is enough ; when you have, you will 
need that witness. 

"Q. But what Scripture makes mention of any such 
thing or gives any reason to expect it? 

"A. That Scripture, 1 Cor. 2 :12, 'We have received 
not the spirit which is of the world, but the Spirit which 
is of God, that we may know the things which are freely 
given us of God.' Now, surely sanctification is one of 
'the things which are freely given us of God.' And no 
possible reason can be assigned why this should not be 
expected when the apostle says we receive the Spirit, for 
this very end, 'that we may know the things which are 
thus freely given us.' 

"Is not the same thing implied in that well-known 
Scripture, Rom. 8 :16, 'The Spirit itself beareth witness 
with our spirit, that we are children of God' ? Does he only 
witness this to those who are children of God in the lowest 
sense? Nay, but to those also who are such in the highest 
sense. And does he not witness that they are such in 
the highest sense? What reason have we to doubt it? 

"What if a man were to affirm (as indeed, many do) 
that this witness belongs only to the highest class of Chris- 
tians? Would you not answer, the apostle makes no 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 143 

restriction? Therefore, doubtless it belongs to all the 
children of God. And will not the same answer hold if 
any affirm that it belongs only to the lowest class? 

"Consider, likewise, 1 John 5 :19, 'We know that we 
are of God.' How? 'By the Spirit that he hath given us' 
(1 John 3:24). Nay, 'hereby we know that he abideth 
in us.' Aria" what ground have we, either from Scripture 
or reason, to exclude the witness, any more than the fruit 
of the Spirit from being here intended? By this then, 
also, we know that we are of God, and in what sense we 
are so. Whether we are babes, young men, or fathers, 
we know in the same manner. 

"Not that I affirm that all young men, or even fathers, 
have this testimony every moment ; there may be inter- 
missions of the direct testimony that they are thus born of 
God. But those intermissions are fewer and shorter as 
they grow up in Christ. And some have the testimony 
ooth of their justification and sanctification, without any 
intermission at all; which I presume more might have, 
did they walk as hunibly and as closely with God as they 
may." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE WITNESS OF OUR OWN SPIRITS. 

In his sermon on the "Witness of the Spirit," Wesley 
says, "That this testimony of the Spirit of God must needs, 
in the very nature of things, be antecedent to the testi- 
mony of our own spirits, may appear from this single con- 
sideration : We must be holy of heart and holy in life 
before we can be conscious that we are so ; before we can 
have the testimony of our own spirit that we are inwardly 
and outwardly holy. But we must love God, before we 
can be holy at all ; this being the root of holiness. Now 
we cannot love God till we know he loves us. 'We love 
him, because he first loved us.' And we cannot know his 
pardoning love to us till his Spirit witnesses it to our 
spirit. Since, therefore, this testimony of his Spirit must 
precede the love of God and all holiness, of consequence 
it must precede our inward consciousness thereof, or the 
testimony of our spirit concerning them." 

It will, perhaps, be profitable to tell what the witness 
of our own spirit is and to distinguish between the witness 
of our spirits in justification from the same witness iu 
entire sanctification. 

Justification and sanctification stand on different 
grounds, and, as a consequence, are different in their mani- 
festations to the soul. That is, the evidence of the one is 
different from that of the other. Outside of the direct 
witness of the Holy Spirit, each one carries with it its 
own witness, and it is this "witness in himself" (1 John 
5:10) of which we wish to speak. 

Justification being accompanied by regeneration, puri- 
fies the outward actions and the voluntary tempers of 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 145 

the soul ; while sanctification entirely purifies the heart 
and removes the involuntary evil tempers of the soul. 

It can readily be seen that it is easier to judge of ac- 
tions than of conditions, of voluntary than of involuntary 
tempers. In this fact lies an explanation of the reason 
why so many people profess holiness who have never at- 
tained to its rich fulness. They know they are doing right, 
that their wishes are not contrary to God, and, as a conse- 
quence, naturally enough conclude that their hearts are 
cleansed. But holiness goes deeper than this, and puri- 
fies the condition of the soul — the fountain-head from 
which motives proceed. 

Since the evidence of holiness lies so deep it is clearly 
manifest, as James Caughey says, that "the temptations 
to doubt concerning one's purity are much more intricate 
and perplexing than those regarding the forgiveness of 
sins." 

Both a justified and a sanctified soul have temptations 
and in a sense the same kind of temptations, but there is 
this difference in the way the soul meets them. Both have 
a feeling of aversion toward the thing offered ; this is 
grace, — "the Spirit." But the justified person also realizes 
a deep-seated something within that favors the idea of 
wrong ; of course he immediately subdues it, but it is there, 
and almost involuntarily he groans for deliverance ; but 
the sanctified soul has nothing within that favors the 
wrong suggestion, but experiences a pure feeling of aver- 
sion. 

Followed down to its deepest facts the difference in 
the evidence of the two experiences is that the justified 
soul realizes the presence of a sinful nature from which 
the sanctified soul realizes that he is delivered. 

That the soul is blessed and has certain emotional ex- 
periences like those of one whose heart is cleansed is no 
positive evidence that the former is also cleansed. God 
pours out his blessings as he pleases, and may give one 
justified person more joy than he does those in general 
who are sanctified. This is God's part, and we should 



146 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

consent for him to attend to it. Do not cover up the mani- 
festations of carnality by saying, "I am wonderfully 
blessed, and therefore must be clean." 

Again, the fact that, under certain circumstances which 
at one time would have overcome you, you keep free, and 
do not even feel impatient within, is not positive proof 
of cleansing. It may or may not even be proof of 
growth in grace. Physical and mental conditions are 
liable to exercise a great influence over the way in which 
things are "taken ;" and the attitude of the soul at the 
moment may be such as to exclude the probability of 
yielding just then, or even of being much tried at the cir- 
cumstances, while at other times it would take all the 
grace obtainable to keep sweet. 

The fact that you do not feel some things that are 
sinful is not a sure sign of purity. Everybody has weak- 
nesses — points where carnality is the strongest, and would 
naturally be tried there, while other things are hardly 
noticeable. Again, there are times when the devil makes 
special assaults on our patience ; then he tries jealousy, 
evil speaking, etc., all in their turn ; then with nearly 
everybody there come times when he tries all at once. 
This is terrible, but it is the enemy's business to make 
things as terrible as possible. If under the most severe 
trials there is found to be one sinful tendency remaining, 
your heart is still unclean, no matter how free you may 
be in other particulars. 

The weakness or strength of the carnal manifesta- 
tions has nothing to do with their presence. After an 
especial season of humiliation the movings of sin will of 
necessity be weaker than when one is loaded with manifold 
temptations, and the consequence will naturally be fondly 
to think the soul delivered ; but lo ! in an evil hour they 
return with all their old venom and force. 

The fact that, after a season of seeking holiness, a 
great blessing is received and the soul feels free for some 
time, shouting and testifying to being as free as a bird, 
is not proof positive of cleansing. Be careful. The devil 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 147 

knows his business well, and sometimes lets a person nearly 
alone and allows his "infernal offspring," as Adam Clarke 
says — the carnal nature — to rest for the time being. He 
well knows that when the person gets up high there will 
be a tendency to be off guard ; then, like a flood, he will 
come sweeping in and attempt to arouse all the latent 
powers of the internal foe, and take the soul by storm. 
The Psalmist cautions us to "Rejoice with trembling" 
(Psalm 2:11). 

The whole question centers in this one point again. 
Are there or are there not carnal tendencies in the soul? 
Not, do you have greater victory than formerly? And, from 
a strictly human point of view, the fact of deliverance can 
only be known by a careful analysis of the "workings of 
the soul." Here every man is his own judge, and God Will 
most surely hold us accountable for our judgment. The 
Holy;- Ghost will be true to us, and if we honestly desire 
the whole truth of the matter he will reveal it. 

Thus the evidence "in ourselves" of deliverance from 
carnality lies in the deep-seated consciousness that the 
motives and desires are pure, free from carnal bias. And 
if the heart is thus purified the most trying circumstances, 
and the most piercing gazes of divinity flashed through 
the soul, will only deepen that internal evidence ; and each 
fresh evidence will be like the breaking of an alabaster box 
of ointment in the soul, spreading its delicious fragrance 
through the whole being. Hallelujah! 

Taking it from another point of view, holiness is mani- 
fested in an added quickness to discern the approaches of 
evil. There are times when the justified soul unconsciously 
ponders illegitimate things, which are rejected as soon 
as detected; but the sanctified soul without an act of 
the will detects and with very little effort instantly rejects 
the approaches of evil. There is a never-sleeping monitor 
of the soul that sees danger from afar and wards it off. 
To some degree this is true in justification, but there are 
weaknesses in the shield that are manifest and groaned 



148 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

over. Charles Wesley expresses this thought thus in one 
of his hymns : 

"I want a principle within, 
Of jealous, godly fear ; 
A sensibility of sin, 
A pain to feel it near. 

"I want the first approach to feel, 
Of pride, or fond desire ; 
To catch the wandering of my will, 
And quench the kindling fire." 

Again, holiness is manifested in a quickness to discern 
the leadings of the Holy Spirit. True, there is left a 
certain amount of dulness and sluggishness in this par- 
ticular, caused by the infirmities of the flesh and mind, 
but to these is added the blinding, stupefying presence of 
carnality, in the justified soul, that is liable to confuse him 
in his leadings. But the heavenly monitor which is en- 
throned in the holy soul consciously or unconsciously to 
the person, with comparative ease detects the leadings of 
the Spirit of God. 

Again, holiness is manifested in a quickness and readi- 
ness to obey the slightest movements of the Spirit. It 
quickly recognizes his reprovings, and heeds his warnings, 
and gladly does or ceases to do as the Spirit directs. It 
has no struggle to subdue inward foes before obeying. 
Obedience is the only rule of life. 

Holiness is manifest in a greater devotement to God. 
Devotion is its atmosphere. In this it lives and moves and 
has its being. The justified soul is devoted indeed, but 
struggles to subdue spiritual sloth and rebellion. 

Holiness readily acknowledges that all things work 
together for the good of its possessor. The justified soul 
tries to do this, and to a great extent, no doubt succeeds ; 
but it is done amid inbred tendencies to break away from 
perplexing circumstances, and from an environment that 
binds the Spirit; but holiness is resigned to all the provi- 
dences of God, 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 140 

"And in his hottest fire holds still." 

Holiness is manifested in greater fervor along all lines 
of heavenly employment. We do not say greater exertion, 
for sometimes that would be impossible, but greater fervor. 
In that spirit that not only works but fully brings God into 
its work, and accomplishes with one stroke what it would 
have taken two to have done without this fulness. This fer- 
vor manifests itself in soul burden for the lost, in agonizing 
prayer, in deep yearnings after God, in carefulness and 
even rigidness of life, and every other kind of holy zeal. 

Its possessor has a deep consciousness that the prin- 
ciple underlying each action is pure ; that . this principle 
abides and rules without a rival ; that all this quickening 
of his spiritual powers follows upon the taking away of 
the vampire that has been sucking the vitality from his 
most sacred duties, and that grace sits sole monarch, with 
every enemy cast out of the kingdom within. Thank God 
for the possibilities of grace! 

In Wesley's sermon on the "Witness of the Spirit," we 
read: "We are all liable to trials, wherein the testimony 
of our own spirit is not sufficient ; wherein nothing but the 
direct testimony of God's Spirit can assure us that we are 
his children. 

"Two inferences may be drawn from the whole : the 
first, Let none ever presume to rest in any supposed testi- 
mony of the Spirit which is separate from the fruit of 
it. If the Spirit of God does really testify that we are 
children of God, the immediate consequence will be the 
fruit of the Spirit, even 'love, joy, peace, long suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance.' And 
however the fruit may be clouded for a while, during the 
time of strong temptation, so that it does not appear to 
the tempted person, while Satan is sifting him as wheat ; 
yet the substantial part of it remains, even under the 
thickest cloud. It is true, joy in the Holy Ghost may be 
withdrawn during the hour of trial ; yea, the soul may 
be 'exceeding sorrowful,' 'while the hour and power of 



150 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

darkness' continue; but even this is generally restored with 
increase, till we rejoice 'with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory.' 

"The second inference is, Let none rest in any supposed 
fruit of the Spirit without the witness. There may be fore- 
tastes of joy, of peace, of love, and those not delusive, but 
really from God, long before we have the witness in our- 
selves," etc. 

Do not trust in any supposed witness of the Spirit of 
God unless the fruit of a holy life, even the absence of 
heart sin and the presence of all the beautiful graces of 
the Spirit immediately follow ; and do not trust in any 
imaginary graces unless the witness of the Holy Spirit 
is given, for these two agree. If God has accomplished 
the work in your heart, his witness will agree thereto, and 
he will inspire your heart with a consciousness of the fact 
that it is clean every whit. Do not trust ecstasies, no mat- 
ter how wonderful they may be. Do not trust any state of 
the emotions, but be determined to have the direct witness 
of the Spirit, and be determined that this witness shall be 
accompanied by the fruits of a* holy life, the testimony of 
your own spirit, agreeing thereto. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
CONFLICTS OF THE ENTIRELY SANCTIFIED. 

"To retain perfect purity," says James Caughey, "re- 
quires a continual acting of faith upon the leading promises 
of the gospel." 

Jesus said, "Have faith in God." Isaiah says, "If ye 
will not believe, surely ye shall not be established (Isa. 
7:9). Paul says, "To the end he may stablish your hearts 
unblameable in holiness before God," etc. (1 Thes. 3:13). 
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so 
walk ye in him : Rooted and built up in him, and estab- 
lished in the faith" (Col. 2:6, 7). "Whose house are we, 
if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the 
hope firm unto the end. * * * For we are made partakers 
of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stead- 
fast unto the end" (Heb. 3:6,14). "Let us hold fast the 
profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful 
that promised. * * * Cast not away therefore your con- 
fidence, which hath great recompense of reward" (Heb. 
10:23,35). 

Peter brings out the same general thought when he 
says, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto 
his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered 
a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle 
you" (1 Pet. 5:10). After the experience of Christian 
perfection is received, according to Peter's instructions, the 
next necessary step is to be established. This is necessary 
in any religious experience, and is generally brought about 
through trials and accusations that, at times, are terrible ; 
but, little by little, the soul catches the idea that this is 



152 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

the way it must be established, and becomes more and 
more firmly fixed on the Rock of Ages. 

When your soul is really cleansed, you must not think 
the battle ended. It has just commenced in earnest, and 
you are now in a condition to get into the thickest of the 
fight ; and, sooner or later, God will put you there. 

You are now in a new country, and the first thing 
to do is to get your bearings ; that is, find out your sur- 
roundings, your new relation to yourself, the enemy and 
God ; find out your new condition and its import in your 
life ; find out the new duties and your relation to them. 
It is a strange land to you, and you are not as capable of 
forming judgments about it from what you have heard 
as you are of forming judgments of China or the jungles 
of Africa from reading books. The only way to know 
spiritual things is to "taste and see." 

The first thing for you to do is to throw away any and 
all your preconceived notions concerning the experience, 
and determine to learn all the lessons God has to teach 
you. It is quite likely that the unlearning will be a more 
severe process than the learning, but you can make it 
easier and cut the work much shorter if you will, right 
away, thoroughly divest yourself of all past ideas and put 
your igDorant soul like blank paper in the hands of God 
to be filled out as he pleases. No matter how orthodox 
you may have been, you will be surprised at the change 
God will make relative to your past ideas concerning gen- 
uine experience. 

One of the most essential characteristics of holiness is 
teachableness, and you must keep yourself in a teachable 
attitude if you expect to grow in grace, or to even retain 
the grace you already have. You do not know all there is 
to learn even after you are cleansed ; and if you are sancti- 
fied you were never as willing to listen as now. You can 
learn from the humblest saint, or from a little child. 

You will, in the first place, need to know something 
about the conflicts with which you will meet in order that 
you may be prepared when they do come the more easily 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 153 

to overcome them. You cannot go to heaven on flowery 
beds of ease any more now than before you were cleansed. 

No doubt a great many have been wholly sanctified, 
but, because of improper teaching, or from failure to dis- 
cern the wiles of the devil, have made shipwreck of faith, 
who might have been spared much trouble and saved to 
the cause of God, had they been properly instructed. 

In our anxiety to tell the truth we should not be be- 
trayed into holding people to a closer line than the Spirit 
does. Nor, on the other hand, should we make too much 
allowance where God would tighten the lines. The claim 
we make for sanctification is that it delivers the soul from 
every sinful temper, and renews it in the moral image of 
God. Fletcher says, "Some people aim at Christian per- 
fection ; but mistaking it for angelic perfection they shoot 
above the mark, and miss it, and then peevishly give up 
their hopes. Others place the mark as much too low ; 
hence it is that you hear them profess to have attained 
Christian perfection, when they have not so much as at- 
tained the mental serenity of a philosopher, or the candor 
of a good-natured, conscientious heathen." Wrong doctrine 
is a fruitful source of vacillation in some people's ex- 
periences, another is just as true when they underestimate 
that experience as when they overestimate it. Underestima- 
tion will cause looseness, and overestimation will cause per- 
plexity and uncertainty that will eventually confuse and 
overthrow. So, to the best of our ability, we should place 
the experience just where God would have us, and, as the 
wise man says, not try to "be righteous overmuch," for 
there is danger on that line the same as in "overmuch 
wickedness." 

I. Holiness does not save one from infirmities. An 
infirmity is defined as "a physical, mental, or moral weak- 
ness or flaw" (Standard Dictionary). It is found in a 
man's natural involuntary condition. In a holy person 
it is not sin, and is perfectly consistent with the highest 
degree of Christian perfection. Fletcher clearly draws the 
line between sin and infirmities in the following quotation: 



154 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

"An infirmity is a breach of Adam's law of paradisiacal 
perfection, which our covenant God does not require of 
us now: and (evangelically speaking) a sin is a breach 
of Christ's evangelical law of Christian perfection ; a per- 
fection this, which God requires of all Christian believers. 
An infirmity (considering it with the error which it oc- 
casions) is consistent with pure love to God and man: but 
a sin is inconsistent with that love. An infirmity is free 
from guile, and has its root in our animal frame: but a 
sin is attended with guile, and has its root in our moral 
frame, springing either from the habitual corruption of 
our hearts, or from the momentary perversion of our tem- 
pers. An infirmity unavoidably results from our unhappy 
circumstances and from the necessary infelicities of our 
present state : but a sin flows from the avoidable and per- 
verse choice of our own will. An infirmity has its founda- 
tion in an involuntary want of power ; and a sin in a wil- 
ful abuse of the present light and power we have. The one 
arises from involuntary weakness, and is always attended 
with a good meaning; a meaning unmixed with any bad 
design, or wicked prejudice : but the other has its source 
in a voluntary perverseness and presumption, and is al- 
ways attended with a meaning altogether bad; or at best, 
with a good meaning founded on wicked prejudices." 

Instead of these infirmities being sin, and as a conse- 
quence a hindrance to grace, they may, if taken rightly, 
be made a means of grace. Not that they would be so if 
voluntarily indulged, for then they cease to be innocent 
infirmities and become wilful transgressions. The point 
at which infirmities become sins is where the person volun- 
tarily indulges them for some reason that would not pass 
before God, or where he refuses correction and instruc- 
tion. He may excuse himself by saying it is his way, and 
that if he did not do that way he would not be natural ; 
but if down in his heart he finds a secret glorying in such 
actions, and also in the fact that he cannot do otherwise, 
he is guilty of sin. Yes, Paul gloried in his infirmities, 
but not to such an extent that he voluntarily surrendered 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 155 

himself to the weakest points in his nature ; but his glorying 
was in the fact that he could so take advantage of his in- 
voluntary weaknesses that what would otherwise have 
been his ruin should become a means of his furtherance in 
God. Hence he said, "All things work together for good to 
them that love the Lord." 

Suppose one because of his lack of judgment or fore- 
sight makes a mistake. If instead of being glad he has 
made the mistake, he feels sorry for it, he will gain 
ground. The mistake costs him no loss of ground unless 
he repines over it to an unnecessary degree, but the hu- 
miliation has brought him lower before God, and, in ad- 
dition to this, he has learned a new lesson, and so has in- 
creased his knowledge. The glorying cOmes, not in the 
action itself, but in the humiliation that of necessity fol- 
lows the contemplation of that action ; not in the fact that 
there are remaining weaknesses, but in the fact that a 
candid survey of these weaknesses, and especially when 
the light of God shines on them, causes the casting away 
of any temptations to pride and humbles the soul more 
deeply before God. And the clean soul is thankful for any- 
thing that will more effectually humble it, and keep pride 
at the greatest distance. Without infirmities we might get 
to considering ourselves almost divine, and so be lifted 
up with pride. Wesley was of the opinion that those things 
which we cannot help are for our good. He says, "Rather 
let us pray, both with the spirit and with the understand 
ing, that all these things may work together for our good ; 
that we may suffer all the infirmities of our nature, all 
the interruptions of men, all the assaults and suggestions 
of evil spirits, and in all be 'more than conquerors.' " 

It may be well to consider what some of the infirmities 
are from which we are not delivered in the experience of 
entire sanctification. 

1. Physical infirmities. Under this head comes all 
those* bodily tendencies variously called passions, ap- 
petites, or desires. Not that these, could they be restored 
to normal conditions, would be called infirmities any more 



156 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

than our physical form could be so called; but they are 
so depraved by the fall that they seldom, or never, manifest 
normal conditions and activities. They are either too 
weak or too strong, in some directions scarcely stirring 
at all, while in others they become inordinate. This is 
seen in an aggravated form in that person who becomes so 
addicted to the use of tobacco that he will forego the 
natural use of his appetite and do without food for the 
sake of his pet indulgence ; or the person who will almost 
starve in order to obtain intoxicants to satisfy his inordi- 
nate desire in that direction. While these are only illustra- 
tions, but, carried to such an extent, are inconsistent with 
sanctification (and with justification as well, for that mat- 
ter), yet they show, not the degree, but the manner in which 
the natural appetites of even a holy person are warped, 
and at times he may innocently go too far in some direction, 
and, when he sees his mistake, be forced to humble him- 
self before God. Yet if he keeps clear, he will "keep his 
body under," and "will not be brought under the power 
of" even innocent things to such an extent that his trans- 
gression will become wilful and chronic. On the other 
hand he will, by prayer and persistent self-denial, safe- 
guard and thus strengthen himself at that point. As this 
brings in the idea of self-denial, and as self-denial has to 
do with the very part of our being with which we are now 
dealing, it may be well to outline the way that should be 
taken by holy people. 

Some people, and good people, too, seem to think that 
since a thing is lawful, and not positively forbidden in the 
Bible, there is no such thing as self-indulgence in connection 
with that thing. And since this gratification is their priv- 
ilege, and is lawful, that they can please themselves in 
that thing as much as they desire ; and if any one sug- 
gests that this is dwarfing to grace, they are ready, with 
the "law and the testimony," to uphold themselves in their 
practises. They seem to forget that Paul said, "All things 
are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient [mar- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 157 

gin, profitable] : all things are lawful for me, but I will 
not be brought under the power of any" (1 Cor. 6:12). 

But there is a point at which the thing that otherwise 
would be right becomes injurious to the soul. There are 
different things to be taken into consideration before pass- 
ing an opinion as to the expediency or non-expediency 
of any course of action. 

Self-indulgence is defined as the "act or habit of in- 
dulging or gratifying one's own inclinations, tastes, pas- 
sions, and appetites, especially when carried to excess 
or at the expense of the rights of others" (Standard Dic- 
tionary). Then self-indulgence is the act of gratifying 
not only the passions, and appetites, which have their rise 
in the peculiar demands of the physical man ; but any sin- 
ful bent of the heart, such as evil speaking, jealousy,envy, 
etc. Now it is clear that if the heart is made clean, all 
this "sinful bent" is taken away, and where it does not 
remain there is no desire for indulgence. Consequently, 
if a person has hard work to keep from jealousy, evil 
speaking, etc., there is a strong suspicion that the heart 
is not made clean. Paul says, "Put off all these ; anger, 
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of 
your mouth. Lie not one to another" (Col. 3:8,9). He 
makes no allowance for, any of these things ; they are pure- 
ly spiritual wickedness and have no manner of excuse for 
existence in the peculiar physical, mental or moral make- 
up of a sanctified man. Their indulgence is always sinful. 

In the unsanctified heart there are sinful tendencies 
(as covetousness, lust, etc.), which correspond with these 
natural appetites, passions and desires and use them as 
channels through which to operate. Now, when the heart 
is cleansed, these sinful tendencies are removed, and there 
remains only the natural appetites, desires, etc., which 
all men have in common. 

But there are other things which stand on a different 
footing ; and, since they use the body and mind as channels 
through which to operate, they will never be removed till 
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption. Paul 



158 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

seems to recognize this difference, and says : "Mortify 
therefore your members which are upon the earth : forni- 
cation, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence 
and coveteousness which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5). Here, in 
pointing out the danger to the Colossians, instead of using 
a mild form of speech, which would so faintly express his 
antipathy for self-indulgence, he shows what their natural 
tendencies (such as sexual desire, desire for money, etc.) 
would grow into if not mortified. 

Though the soul is purified and restored to its original 
holiness, as far as the quality of the renewed nature is 
concerned, yet the natural desires remain to some extent 
warped, just as our minds are still subject to follies ; and 
these desires must be kept under or they will make ex- 
cessive demands and ruin the soul. The tendency of the 
natural desires is always toward excess, unless firmly held 
in check by grace. Quarles says, "My passions eagle-eyed, 
my judgment blind." If we listen to the clamorings of 
passion, the warning voice of judgment will soon be lost. 

This brings the idea of self-denial and self in- 
dulgence down to denial, or gratification of the 
natural desires, passions, appetites and inclinations, 
such as desire for pleasing food, pleasant surroundings, 
congenial companionship, the attractions of the sexes, sleep, 
rest, etc., and attraction toward anything is in proportion 
to its ability to produce mental or physical pleasure. 

A sanctified person may become too self-indulgent — par- 
taking too freely of those things which produce physical 
or mental pleasure ; and, somewhere along this line one 
may cross the boundary of the lawful and enter the realm 
of the inordinate, thus becoming unclean again. Conse- 
quently the only safe plan is to swing as far on the line 
of self-denial as is consistent with physical and spiritual 
well-being. Keep the body under, even at the expense of 
physical comfort if necessary ; and, by so doing, the soul 
will thrive. Godly self-denial produces great enjoyment 
at the last. 

We do not for a moment think that it is necessary for 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 159 

a sanctified person to be satisfied with the poorest things 
of life, as poor clothing, poor food, poor houses,etc, unless 
one's circumstances are such that he cannot afford any bet- 
ter. If in running the way of duty, the splinters have to be 
scraped from the bottom of the flour barrel, and one patch 
is added to another, or a mansion is changed for a dugout, 
or for a log cabin in the wilderness, it is a fine thing to 
have at least grace enough to endure it, and that uncom- 
plainingly, for the sake of Jesus, who had not where to 
lay his head, and had but five barley loaves and two small 
fishes to set before a multitude of about ten thousand. 

Self-denial does not mean to live in rags, dirt, filth, 
slovenliness and indifference ; such wretchedness is con- 
trary to the spirit of a clean, wide-awake gospel. But 
there is such a thing as self-denial. It is defined as "the 
act or power of denying one's self gratification, as for the 
good of some one else or for self -mortification ; forbearance, 
or refusal to gratify one's own feelings, inclinations, or 
desires; passive self-sacrifice. (Standard Dictionary). 

Self-denial is not Greek stoicism nor monastic as- 
ceticism, but simply Christian self-mortification, that places 
the feelings of others before one's own, and the glory of 
God before one's own inclinations and desires ; and, where 
the good of others or the glory of God run counter to all 
we should like to do, to put our own pleasures in the back- 
ground and live for others ; and also where present pleasure 
or gratification excludes to any degree any possibility of 
future good or spiritual profit, to deny one's self the pres- 
ent gratification for the sake of the future benefit. Even 
self-love properly governed would lead one to do that. 

There are five points to be considered by a holy person 
before entering upon the enjoyment of any pleasure of the 
senses : 

(1) Is it lawful? That is, do the laws of God and 
man uphold me in what I am about to do? If so, it is 
well. But we must remember that lawful things must be 
"used" and not "abused," and beware lest, in using the 
privileges we have under human law, and those which we 



160 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

flatter ourselves that divine law allows, we should cross 
the boundary of things consistent with spiritual health and 
enter the malarial quagmire of sin. 

(2) The second point to be considered is the physical 
condition of the person. That which would be beneficial 
to one person, might be positively injurious to another, 
some require a warm and some a cooler climate; some 
a low and some a higher altitude; some regard pork as 
not injurious, but beneficial to their health, while a little 
lard cooked in the victuals of others will cause nausea. 
Some aged persons have been inveterate tobacco users 
and liquor drinkers all their lives. It would be of no use 
to lecture them on the physical injuries of tobacco and 
liquor since their very existence would seem to give you 
the lie ; others, however, would be permanently injured or 
killed by the use of either in a few months. We can settle 
on this one point, that that which is injurious to the 
health, be it self-denial or indulgence, is wrong and should 
be discontinued. But, on the contrary, we cannot admit 
that whatever is not thus injurious is right. We should be 
careful that while we are not injuring our bodies we are 
also not injuring our souls. 

(3) For what purpose is the act committed? While 
man looks on the outward appearance God looks on the 
heart, and judges according to the motive that prompts 
the action. An act which is all right in one place may 
be wrong in another, according to the motive which prompts 
it. It is all right to seek congenial companionship when 
the motive is spiritual profit, as when we seek the com- 
munion of the saints ; but when we seek certain com- 
panions because they amuse or flatter us, the motive is 
improper and the effect injurious. Again, when we follow 
any pleasing occupation for the glory of God, the effect 
is salutary ; but should we follow it simply because it is 
pleasing, it is ruinous. Any indulgence, no matter how 
pleasing to the flesh, that does not strictly conform to the 
rule "whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God," will, if persistently fol- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 161 

lowed, eventually sap one's spiritual vitality and leave 
hiin spiritually dead. 

(4) What effect will the action have on any other 
party concerned? None of us live to ourselves. The least 
act will in some sense have an influence on some other per- 
son. That bunch of ribbon on your hat, that extra tuck 
or bit of lace may seem small to you, but some one else 
in following your example may go a little farther. That 
careless remark seemed small to you, but others stand- 
ing by were taking you for an example. Of course, they 
should not have done this, but they did, and they were 
looking for just such a slip from you as an excuse for 
several such slips on their part. Now their consciences 
are eased, and they can more easily do the wrong thing 
the next time, and then excuse themselves by saying, 
"Brother So-and-So did it, and he is holy." 

But some acts of indulgence implicate more than one 
party. Then a holy person in maintaining his fancied 
rights should be very careful that he is not trampling 
on the rights of some others. Is it as pleasing to the other 
party concerned as it is to you? Godly self-denial, accord- 
ing to the rule "do all to the glory of God," would wonder- 
fully straighten out some people and do away with the 
things that "hinder so many prayers." See 1 Peter 3 :7. 
But soma one is ready to say, "My rights, my God-given 
rights." Nothing has been said against your rights ; we 
have merely mentioned the rights of the other person whom 
you ought to love. There is a line that is pleasing to God ; 
if you would try it, you would be delighted with the re- 
sults in soul-health and growth. 

(5) The last and greatest rule by which we should 
govern our pleasure is, What effect will the act have on 
my soul? This is equivalent to asking, "Is it God's will?" 
for when the will of God is done, the soul is always bene- 
fited. Every spiritual person knows that there are some 
things that help and some things that hinder the soul's 
prosperity. It takes close living and constant praying to 
find the path of spiritual prosperity, but if honest in its 



162 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

pursuit we shall eventually find it. "I want to" is a poor 
rule by which to govern the life; "God wants me to," is 
the only safe way. If any course of action causes deadness 
of soul and lessens the spirit of prayer, it is unsafe and 
should be discontinued. 

Do nothing for present pleasure that will cause future 
suffering. Do nothing that has the appearance of evil. 
Do nothing that has a tendency to weaken the soul. Do 
always that which is well pleasing in God's sight. "For 
if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." 

On the line of physical infirmities come the pains and 
aches, sicknesses and disabilities arising from disease or 
heredity. These of necessity cause inconvenience, and 
often also hinder the person from doing the things he 
otherwise would ; or, if he does attempt to do them, the 
performance is necessarily imperfect. Those shortcomings 
which arise from deficiency of physical power, caused 
either by lack of strength or practise, are infirmities that 
no person should look upon in individuals as wrongs, un- 
less they have wilfully kept themselves in weakness or 
ignorance. In such a case we would rightfully accuse them 
for not knowing the things that it was their privilege and 
duty to know. 

2. We are not delivered from mental infirmities only 
in so far as these infirmities are sinful. When man fell 
he fell in the unity of his being and his mind went down in 
the general wreck. A certain class of modern scientists 
would have us believe that the mental caliber of man was 
very small at first, but that by constant development he 
has risen to a loftier plane of knowledge than that oc- 
cupied by our primeval parents in Eden. We cannot ac- 
cept such a theory, however, since to our mind it is destruc- 
tive and pernicious. There is no doubt that, in respect 
to natural research, the scholarship of to-day eclipses that 
of the philosophers of two thousand years ago ; but this 
is not because of an increase of intellect, but because we 
have the benefits of the researches, successes and failures, 
of the men of two thousand and more years ago, added to 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 163 

all that have lived since that time; and these products 
are handed to us in a form that we can easily grasp and 
retain, or if we do not wish to do that, we can put endless 
volumes in our libraries and turn to^ them when we choose. 
This is not to the glory of the intellect of the twentieth 
century, but rather, to the glory of that of former years. 
What scholar of to-day, without a foundation from which 
to start, could successfully study out Aristotle's rules of 
logic, and make them so perfect that two thousand years 
of sharpest criticism would not impair them? 

No, our race is not on the up grade, and that to such 
an extent that mental infirmities will soon disappear. Until 
"time shall be no more" and this "mortal shall have put 
on immortality," mental infirmities will remain with the 
most intellectual and even the most spiritual. How often 
does the man of God bewail his lack of knowledge, his 
wrong conclusions, and hence his wrong though not sinful 
actions — wrong in such a sense that, if he had the thing 
to do over with the increased light and experience he now 
possesses, would do differently. How often we hear him 
humbly confessing his lack of judgment that has caused 
him so much trouble. 

We copy the following from Wesley's sermon on "Wan- 
dering Thoughts." "But does it only cause this in the 
time of sickness or preternatural disorder? Nay, but more 
or less, at all times, even in a state of perfect health. Let 
a man be ever so healthy he will be more or less delirious 
every four and twenty hours. For does he not sleep? And 
while he sleeps, is he not liable to dream? And who then 
is master of his own thoughts, or able to preserve the 
order and consistency of them? Who can then keep them 
fixed on any point, or prevent their wandering from pole 
to pole? 

"But suppose we are awake, are we always so awake 
that we can steadily govern our own thoughts? Are we 
not unavoidably exposed to contrary extremes, by the very 
nature of this machine, the body? Sometimes we are too 
heavy, too dull and languid to pursue any chain of 



164 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

thought. Sometimes, on the other hand, we are too lively. 
The imagination, without leave, starts to and fro, and 
carries us away hither and thither, whether we will or 
no, and all this from the merely natural motion of the 
spirits, or vibration of the nerves. 

"Farther : How many wandering thoughts may arise, 
from those various associations of our ideas, which are 
made entirely without our knowledge and independently 
of our choice ! How these connections are formed we can- 
not tell ; but they are formed in a thousand different man- 
ners. Nor is it in the power of the wisest or holiest of 
men to break these associations, or prevent what is the 
necessary consequence of them, and matter of daily ob- 
servation. Let the fire but touch one end of the train, and 
it immediately runs to the other. 

"Once more: let us fix our attention as studiously as 
we are able on any subject, yet let either pleasure or pain 
arise, especially if it be intense, and it will demand our 
immediate attention, and attach our thought to itself. It 
will interrupt the steadiest contemplation, and divert the 
mind from its favorite subject." 

In this wonderful sermon Wesley clearly draws the line 
between sinful thoughts and wandering thoughts that are 
not sinful, for in addition to what we have quoted, he says, 
"All those thoughts which wander from God, which leave 
him no room in our minds, are undoubtedly sinful. * * * * 
Such are all murmuring, discontented thoughts, which say, 
in effect, We will not have thee to rule over us ; all unbe- 
lieving thoughts, whether with regard to his being, his at- 
tributes, his providence. * * * * All thoughts which spring 
from sinful tempers, are undoubtedly sinful. * * * * And 
so must those be, which either produce or feed any sinful 
temper ; * * * * for not only whatever flows from evil is 
evil ; but also whatever leads to it ; whatever tends to 
alienate the soul of God, and to make or keep it earthly, 
sensual, or devilish." 

3. In the definition of infirmities given in the fore- 
going, moral flaws are mentioned in addition to those which 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 165 

are physical or mental. This is true of the sinner, and 
also of the imperfect Christian ; but as applied to the fully 
sanctified, the term flaw must be limited to that innocent, 
"weakness" which springs from our finite condition. God 
has not promised to deliver us from this in the present 
life. We do not mean "weakness" in the sense of in- 
ability to do all God's will concerning us (for his will 
makes allowance for this very weakness), but we mean 
rather that we are in ourselves finite, and incapable of 
doing things beyond our finite sphere. Taking Fletcher's 
definition of an infirmity as being an "involuntary want of 
power," and applying it to the condition of the holiest 
of earth, and it is perfectly consistent with experience, if 
not with some people's theories. 

While we are sure that the soul is thoroughly delivered 
from sin, outward and inward, yet who can accomplish 
anything, even in spiritual matters, to his complete satis- 
faction? Here, as well as elsewhere, though "perfect in 
love" we are still imperfect in conduct. Who is there but at 
times, finds his soul lagging and stumbling, pressed down 
by the corruptible body and by corrupt surroundings, until 
he cries to God for a new impetus in divine things, a 
deeper going down before God, and a mighty quickening 
in holiness and love. Not that he has lost ground, but the 
time has come that he must get more grace or that which 
he already has will steadily decline. Wesley says we must 
continually pray and press forward. "It is good to re- 
new ourselves from time to time, by closely examining the 
state of our souls, as if we had never done it before : for 
nothing tends more to the full assurance of faith, than to 
keep ourselves by this means in humility, and the exer- 
cise of all good works." Bramwell says, "I am giving my- 
self to God, to receive a much deeper baptism, which 
I feel is my liberty in this world. I cannot rest in sins 
forgiven, or in being cleansed from all unrighteousness. 1 
see the glory which belongs to me in my blessed Lord is 
for himself to dwell fully in my soul." 

What holy person, when he compares himself and his 



166 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

attainments with the attainments of some of his brethren, 
or with the worthies of other days, but has felt like say- 
ing, with the holy Bramwell, "I long to live as near as 
any ever did; and yet I feel I have not all Ann Cutler 
found. My soul is subject to sloth ; and I have hard work, 
I assure you, to keep all things going at full speed. But 
when I do this for one day, I see the ground I have gone 
over. Oh, how swiftly we may run even in this world!" 

There is no doubt but that a great share of this con- 
fession was caused by humility, but humility sees facts ; it 
sees sins all gone, but places the soul on the proper level, 
and puts it in a place where, acknowledging its needs, 
it earnestly stretches out after more. Bramwell again 
searches his heart, and, in his earnest endeavors after 
God, cries : "The love of Christ is my study ; but I am 
frequently at a loss to understand how it is that my love 
to him is so little. I am sometimes ready to stumble at 
myself on this account. Am I right? Can I be right in 
this little love? Could I die for thee? Could I suffer long, 
and still love with a passion like thine? I cry to God 
daily, hourly, constantly, to receive a thousand times more 
love. I must give myself away ; for the sacrifice was con- 
sumed." 

May God breathe on us more of the precious Spirit 
that inspired this holy man, and set us to reaching out 
with greater endeavors after all his fulness ! 

A lack of perfect maturity (which the most advanced 
saint would not claim to have attained) is an infirmity, 
in the sense in which we have spoken of infirmities. Any- 
thing that can be improved either in quality or degree is 
not yet absolutely perfect. Fletcher says, "Absolute per- 
fection belongs to God alone. * * * God alone is supremely 
perfect : all beings are imperfect, when they are compared 
to him ; and though all his works were perfect in their 
places, yet, as he gave them different degrees of perfec- 
tion, they which have inferior degrees of goodness, may 
be said to be imperfect in comparison to them which are 
endued with superior degrees of excellence." 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 1G7 

But in this world the spirit is infirm, not only because 
it is immature, but also in respect to its understanding 
and judgments ; and from wrong judgments affections are 
liable to flow which, if we had judged rightly, would have 
been different. This appears whenever we misunderstand 
a person's motive, and, as a consequence, indulge affections 
toward him which are different than in strict justice he 
deserves. If we were angels we would make no such 
mistakes ; but, while our spirits are perfectly cleansed 
from sin, yet through our error of judgment we love the 
man only as we would a sinner or an enemy, when he is 
worthy of being loved as a holy Christian, or a friend. 
Wesley is very clear on this point. In his sermon on "Per- 
fection" he says : 

"The highest perfection which man can attain, while 
the soul dwells in the body, does not exclude ignorance, and 
error, and a thousand other infirmities. Now from wrong 
judgments, wrong words and actions will often necessarily 
flow : and, in some cases, wrong affections may also spring 
from the same source. I may judge wrong of you ; I may 
think more or less highly of you than I ought to think ; 
and this mistake in my judgment, may not only cause 
something wrong in my behavior, but it may have a still 
deeper effect ; it may occasion something wrong in my 
affection. From a wrong apprehension, I will love and 
esteem you either more or less than I ought. Nor can I 
be freed from a liability to such a mistake while I remain 
in a corruptible body. A thousand infirmities, in conse- 
quence of this, will attend my spirit, till it returns to 
God who gave it. And, in numberless instances, it comes 
short of doing the will of God, as Adam did in Paradise." 

Let no man excuse his carnality on this score, for if 
he feels in his heart the least tendency toward evil sur- 
mising, unkindness, uncharitable criticism, or any lack of 
perfect love toward all men, he is yet in need of the sancti- 
fying grace of God. 

II. Holy people are subject to trials. This arises 
from the peculiar relation they sustain to the world, both 



168 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

to the people and natural things, and to the various cir- 
cumstances which arise from their connection with these 
things. This is not always the meaning that is attached 
to the word either in the Bible or in common parlance, 
but for the want of some better word we desire to use it 
with that meaning. Peter says, "That the trial of your 
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perish- 
eth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto 
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus 
Christ" (1 Pet. 1:7). God appeared to Abraham and said, 
"I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou 
perfect" (Gen. 17:1). Some time afterward he "tried" 
Abraham's integrity by commanding him to offer Isaac 
as a sacrifice. Job was a "perfect and an upright man," 
yet God allowed him to be tested, and when he was tried 
he "came forth as gold." Daniel says, "Many shall be puri- 
fied, and made white, and tried" (Dan. 12:10). 

All people have trials. Man is ushered into the world 
amid scenes of suffering and sorrow. The first sound he 
produces . is a cry, as if he would bewail his existence and 
reproach his parents for the sorrows to which they have 
begotten him. Here the stormy career begins. Through 
the little joys and sorrows of childhood the babe arrives 
at youth, when the mystery of existence begins to dawn 
upon him. Through young manhood he pursues his way, 
and at length we see him in succession, at the marriage 
altar, in his own home, surrounded by his family, in busi- 
ness life, in social and religious relations, until as his 
hair gradually silvers for the tomb, his eyes grow dim, 
his steps slacken, his spirit droops and he realizes, if 
he is a man of thought, that "Man born of a woman hath 
but few days and is full of sorrow." He rejoices in the 
house of feasting to-day, and to-morrow mourns at the 
bier of his friend. Now he exults at success, but soon 
weeps at failure. He laughs most happily when his spirits 
are light and airy, but soon groans in anguish as his body 
is racked with pain, and at last he goes the way of man- 
kind, "earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 169 

" Oh, why should the spiiit of mortal be proud ? 
Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud, 
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 
Man passes from life to his rest in the grave. 

" 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, 
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, 
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud — 
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?*' 

We are social beings — we desire companionship. Very 
few — and they are abnormally constituted — prefer to live 
as hermits, alone. Beasts and birds might associate to- 
gether without the rights of one interfering with those 
of another, for their capacities are small and their wants 
few. But man is a complex being, with rights and desires 
which reach out in all directions. Hence it is impossible 
for him to associate with his fellows for any length of 
time without the real or fancied rights of one interfering 
with those of the other. Every time your neighbor, in 
maintaining what he may call his rights, interferes with 
your rights or privileges, or even transgresses your ideas 
of neighborliness or philanthropy, though he does nothing 
that injures you or detracts from your freedom or rights, 
if you are not careful to keep your heart steady before 
God, you will find a suggestion stealthily taking possession 
of you that he is not worthy of your friendship. Your 
spirit will become agitated, or at least uneasy, and you 
will find it necessary to pray in order to keep wrong feel- 
ings from entering your heart. This is a trial — a testing 
of your grace. Sin has not yet entered your heart in the 
shape of animosity against your neighbor, but the tempta- 
tion is in that direction. 

While it is impossible to get a place where you will 
have no such trials, yet by the grace of God you may re- 
duce them to a minimum : and that person who is always 
finding occasion to suspect his neighbor, and who is always 
having his rights crossed, even by well-meaning people, 
needs to get saved from touchiness and sensitiveness. 



170 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

George Muller testified, "Not until I became totally in- 
different to what I thought, desired or prefered; to my 
opinions, tastes, purposes, and the blame or praise, the 
censure or applause, of my fellow men, and determined 
that henceforth I would seek no approbation but that o£ 
God ; did I ever start on a life of happiness and holiness ; 
but from that day until now I have been content to live 
alone with God." 

The Rev. W. H. Kennedy, of the Wesleyan Methodist 
Church, says : "The true condition of the soul, is shown 
by contact with things opposed to our tastes or habits 
of life. So when our good is evil spoken of, when our tastes 
are offended, our wishes or advices disregarded, or our 
opinions ridiculed, to take it all in patient silence is a 
fruit of inward purity. 

"When I am 'contented with mean things' (Rom. 12:16, 
margin), with any food, any raiment, any society, any 
climate, any seclusion, any interruption, by the will of 
God, I have an evidence of inward purity. 

"When I can bear with loving patience any irregularity, 
any disorder, any lack of punctuality, or any of the an- 
noying things of life with inward quietness and meekness, 
then I bear the fruit of holiness. 

"When I prefer to neglect myself for the benefit of 
others ; when I avoid referring to myself in commendation, 
or to desire to be well spoken of ; when I am forgotten, 
neglected or purposely set aside and my soul inwardly re- 
joices ; that is an evidence of being dead, and my life hid 
with Christ. 

"When I 'take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in 
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake,' 
I agree with St. Paul (see 2 Cor. 12 :10), and, 'In all these 
things am more than conqueror through him that loved 
me' (Rom. 8:37)." 

Circumstances sometimes get so complicated that they 
become a trial. Poverty, failure of crops, failure of busi- 
ness, etc., all conspire to try one's patience and faith; but 
in proportion as we learn to see God in everything, in 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 171 

that proportion these things cease to be a trial. Madam 
Guyon says, "Oh, what fears and uneasiness does a re- 
signed soul spare itself!" 

The following is from Wesley's sermon on "Heaviness 
Through Temptations :" "But how many are there in this 
Christian country that toil, and labor, and sweat, and 
have it [food] not at last, but struggle with weariness and 
hunger together? Is it not worse, for one after a hard 
day's labor to come back to a poor, cold, dirty, uncom- 
fortable lodging, and to find there not even the food that 
is needful to repair his wasted strength? * * * Perhaps 
to find also the comfort of five or six children, crying for 
what he has not to give! Were it not that he is restrained 
by an unseen hand, would he not 'curse God and die'? Oh, 
want of bread! Want of bread! Who can tell what this 
means, unless he hath felt it himself?" 

Besides these trials that are common to man, there 
are those that are peculiar to the Christian. It is a 
mistake to say that the sinner has all the trials a Christian 
does, for if you live for God the devil will do his best 
to make your life miserable. Jesus said, "In the world 
ye shall have tribulation." Under this head come the per- 
secutions, mockings, scoffings, and jeerings of the unholy 
throng. You will be reproached for being a Christian, "but 
he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved." 

III. We are surrounded by innumerable hosts of spirits, 
some good and some bad, some intent on our salvation and 
some on our destruction. If we could meet our enemies 
in the open field, ourselves armed by the power of God and 
aided by our heavenly guardians, we might vanquish them ; 
but no, they are unseen. Instead of coming out in bold ar- 
ray they keep up a rambling, guerrilla warfare, darting in 
when least expected, and always endeavoring to find the 
soul off guard. This is the most tantalizing, aggravating 
warfare imaginable. The enemy cannot be located till 
the crack of his gun is heard, and then he is invisible, 
and the victim might about as well save his ammunition 
as to waste it shooting at random into the bushes, Take 



172 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

a lesson from this, and when you hear the crack of the 
devil's gun do not fire back ; save your ammunition for 
better game ; set to running off some of his flock, and keep 
him so occupied keeping up fences and renewing brand- 
marks that he will have to give you some rest. True 
he will try all the harder to catch the "robber," but you 
are never safer than when on such an expedition, for you 
are surrounded by a wall of fire, and "an innumerable 
company of angels" that are especially interested in your 
success. 

The Bible represents the devil in different ways. He 
is sometimes called an "adversary," or "the accuser of 
the brethren." Always when the sons of God come to- 
gether Satan (the adversary) comes also, and straightway 
begins his old business of accusing. And it is well if 
the sons of God detect his wiles and banish him. At 
times, realizing his inability to get people willingly to 
follow him if his identity is manifest, he puts on a cloak ; 
clothes himself with the livery of heaven, and comes as an 
angel of light, thereby trying to deceive people into his 
clutches. When he fails as an adversary and as an angel 
of light, he sometimes throws off all cloaks, stands forth 
in his true nature and attempts to frighten the soul into 
submission. Then it is that he appears as "a roaring 
lion." 

Satan has different ways of working. One is by flash- 
ing evil suggestions, or, as the Bible says, "fiery darts." 
With these he attempts to pierce your shield. He searches 
diligently for a weak place in your harness. Like a good 
general he tries to find some place where you are off your 
guard, or where you have not properly strengthened your 
bulwarks. Then through the gap thus caused he hurls 
his fiery darts, in the shape of accusations, solicitations 
to or suggestions of evil ; and it is well if he was mistaken 
and you had your shield ready, for against that his fiery 
darts will glance off like bullets shot against a wall of 
adamant. If you have "the shield of faith," he cannot 
puncture it. "iVbove all, taking the shield of faith, where- 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 173 

with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
wicked." Meet him with a Bible promise, or some other 
appropriate passage of scripture, as Jesus did, or go on 
your way without heeding him. Yet do not dare him to the 
fray, for he will come soon enough without that. Do not 
use railing accusations, since even Michael the archangel 
dare not do that. It is better to say, like Michael, "The 
Lord rebuke thee, O Satan." 

At times the very air will seem alive with his flying 
missies, but do not be frightened or nervous ; he is shorn 
of his strength, and faith as a grain of mustard seed on 
your part will make you "more than conqueror." Fear not. 
"Have faith in God," and by him you can run through a 
troop unscathed, pass through the floods and not be 
drowned, and march through fire without its smell left on 
your garments. In the midst of all you will be able, with 
Charles Wesley, to sing: 

"Though in affliction's furnace tried, 

Unhurt on snares and death I'll tread ; 

Though sin assail, and hell, thrown wide, 
Pour all its flames upon my head ; 

Like Moses' bush I'll mount the higher, 

And flourish, unconsumed, in fire." 

Failing with his fiery darts, he will use various kinds 
of .pressure to overcome you. Throwing his infernal in- 
fluences around your soul (thank God, not into it) as an 
octopus does its many arms around its prey, he will thus 
attempt to force you into yielding to his demands. The 
victim will be troubled with strange, unaccountable feel- 
ings. At times the very atmosphere will seem pregnant 
with spirits that would goad your impatience, that in- 
sist oh an entrance to the soul. Then pride will thrust 
sore at you, seeking to engender a spirit of self-exalta- 
tion. A spirit of envy will seek to usurp a place in your 
heart, or a jealous or covetous spirit to take possession 
of its throne ; and so on through all the avenues of ap- 
proach the adversary will seek to control and overthrow 
you. Sometimes groans will be wrung from your very 



174 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

heart, so crushing will be your burden. These suggestions 
and feelings may accumulate until your condition will 
answer the Bible description of "heaviness through mani- 
fold temptations." 

James Caughey says, "Temptation is a subject of feeling, 
as well as indwelling sin. A temptation is not a tempta- 
tion in reality unless it is felt. How can we know we are 
tempted unless we feel it? How difficult it is, frequently, 
to discriminate!" All this is true, with this explanation: 
indwelling sin implies an inherent tendency to evil strug- 
gling for gratification, while temptation to the holy soul, 
in addition to the feeling caused by the temptation, is met 
by a feeling of aversion to and recoil from the forbidden 
object or the evil suggested, because of its sinful character. 
Joseph's response to the solicitations of Potipher's wife, 
"How can I do this great evfl and sin against God?" is 
an illustration. 

Here is another point. As you look back at it you 
will see that the stirrings of carnality in the past were 
definite — that is of pride, envy, etc. ; but in the present 
temptation there is an indefiniteness and uncertainty that 
shows it to be false. Wesley says that the purity of our 
hearts at present will appear in a clearer light if we com- 
pare the present with the past feelings. But if the heart 
is not clean, and we compare the present with the past, 
there will be such a striking similarity that it will .in- 
crease the feeling that the experience has not been re- 
ceived. 

In Wesley's sermon on "Wandering Thoughts" the fol- 
lowing passage occurs : "And as long as evil spirits roam 
to and fro in a miserable, disordered world, so long they 
will assault (whether they can prevail or no) every in- 
habitant of flesh and blood. They will trouble even those 
whom they cannot destroy : they will attack, if they cannot 
conquer. And from these attacks of our restless, unwearied 
enemies, we must not look for an entire deliverance, till 
we are lodged 'where the wicked cease from troubling, 
and where the weary are at rest.' " 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 175 

It might be asked, "At what point does the clean soul 
again become carnal?" Take one form of temptation as 
an illustration, which is no doubt the most dangerous and 
subtle of all, and perhaps the one that the enemy uses the 
oftenest: At what point do temptations to doubt so enter 
the heart as to render it again carnal? 

(1) As soon as a person is really cleansed the devil 
levels all his batteries at this experience. He immediately 
suggests, "You do not have the experience. Be careful, 
holiness is a wonderful work and you are professing a 
great thing. No one was ever sanctified," etc. But none 
of these suggestions, no matter how persistently urged, 
are inconsistent with a clean heart. They are outside. 

(2) A serious doubt as to whether the heart has been 
made clean, arising from a misconception of what real 
cleansing is, does not necessarily forfeit the experience. 
On the contrary it may cause one to examine the founda- 
tion of his hope and the more thoroughly convince himself 
of the genuineness of his experience. 

(3) A fear that the experience has been forfeited 
does not of necessity forfeit it. This fearfulness is likely 
to occur often before the heart becomes "established" and 
learns the wiles of the devil, especially if the person is 
extremely conscientious. 

(4) A failure to profess the experience, at least for 
a short time, during these temptations to doubt, does not 
necessarily admit unbelief to the heart. A great amount 
of mental misconception is consistent with a clean heart. 

(5) To give up one's profession and attempt to pray 
through does not necessarily forfeit the experience. I 
have known persons who, in their great anxiety to be right, 
and honestly attempting to pray through, have obtained 
the witness to their cleansing, if possible, more clearly 
than before, and upon examination of their past from 
this advanced ground were convinced that they had not 
lost their experience at all. 

You say, "If all this is consistent with an experience, 
where can doubt come in?" You will notice that all the 



176 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

above-mentioned complications arise from a misconception 
of God's requirements, or from a failure to recognize the 
devil's temptations. And there is no doubt that God makes 
a great deal of allowance for our human short-sighted- 
ness. Faith is not so much the acknowledgment of a 
fact of experience as confidence in God. This bases the 
experience on a different principle than much of the 
preaching of to-day wittingly or unwittingly does. But he 
who builds his hopes on his ability to profess an experience 
is not properly founded on the rock. "Other foundation 
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" 
(1 Cor. 3:11). 

Here is the point of actual failure. The devil slips up 
in the midst of a severe test and says, "There is no use 
trying, God cannot keep you." This runs against the will, 
and if it is quickly repelled the heart is still clean; but 
if the will weakens and accepts the statement, the heart 
immediately becomes unclean. Or, the devil says, "Are 
you not sorry you ever professed holiness?" If the will 
says, "No,"' all is well. But if it admits the temptation, 
it falls. As long as the will persistently rejects the on- 
slaughts of the devil, and holds its steadfastness in God, 
there is no cause for fear ; but when it weakens and ac- 
cepts distrust of God, carnality re-enters. 

Carnality enters at the point of distrust toward God, 
be that distrust ever so small. So press on, though all 
your foundations of experience seem to totter ; for if you 
steadily hold your confidence in God, all will come out 
right in the end. Remember that carnality enters, if at 
all, at the point of accepting and yielding to some sinful 
principle. Are you guilty in this respect? If so, you are 
on a lower plane than you once were. Rest not until the 
loftier plane is regained, and, "rooted and grounded in 
love," you are able to pass through every conflict, not only 
unscathed, but more than conqueror" 



CHAPTER XX. 



CAUSES OF VACILLATION. 



The question is often asked, "Why is it that people 
fail to keep a steady experience in holiness?" In answer- 
ing in a general way we remark that in the things of grace 
people get all they live for. Holiness resides in the heart, 
and, as a consequence, the causes of vacillation may be 
found in heart conditions, or in things that influence those 
conditions. If your experience has been vacillating pos- 
sibly you may find the secret of this unsteadiness in some 
cf the following observations. If so, thank God for the 
discovery, and turn it at once to practical account. 

Probably the greater number of vacillating professors 
of holiness never attained this rich experience. They have 
repeatedly gone forward in some holiness meeting or con- 
vention, consecrated themselves to God, repented of nu- 
merous shortcomings, and been greatly blest ; but in a 
short time they have been down again. Then they say. 
"I have lost the experience of holiness," are reproached 
by others for their lack of faith and called doubting 
Thomases. But all this time there has been a questioning 
in their minds as to whether they really got what they 
thought they did. 

The real experience may be lost, however — from lack of 
faith, from failure to trust God implicitly. Our faith 
must "stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power 
of God." But there come trying circumstances, when all 
hell seems to surround the soul ; then there enters the 
heart a distrust of God's ability to keep from falling. It 
is the devil's business to inoculate us with this insidious 
thing, if possible ; but remember the promise, "They that 



178 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot 
be removed, but abideth forever" (Psa. 125:1). Then hold 
still, and if you are really sanctified, you will come out 
with flying colors, knowing more of God than before. Bin 
where faith fails there is generally some other reason 
further back that is the cause of its failure, and we should 
be strictly honest and lay the blame at the right place. 

Another sure cause of unsteadiness is a lack of watch- 
fulness. The devil is always on the alert, always looking 
for an opportunity to take the citadel of "Man-soul" by 
storm. To offset this Jesus said, "Watch." We are fighting 
with an unseen adversary. We must watch in every direc- 
tion and all the time. A great many become careless for 
a time, and in the unguarded moment are overtaken by 
the enemy and fall. 

Still another occasion of vacillation is the lack of self- 
humiliation under all circumstances. We say lack of self- 
humiliation, for though pride be gone, yet there may arise 
circumstances, or a complication of circumstances, under 
which if we refuse to humble ourselves, though clearly in 
the right, we are, to say the least, in danger. Every change 
of circumstances should be seized by the sanctified soul 
as a fresh reason to go down before God. Resentment of 
slander, reproof, correction, insult, or any trying thing, 
leaves the door open and sin enters. But in all these con- 
ditions, and in success as well, the soul should constantly 
abase itself before God. 

A failure of resignation may forfeit the experience. 
Under trying circumstances the temptation would be to 
rebel, and force our way out ; but the resigned soul saves 
itself many perplexities by holding still under the trial. 
If the sky is black and lowering, the sun will shine all 
the brighter after the clouds roll away. Madam Guyon 
says if we fight our temptations, they will only grow 
worse, but if we let them alone and trust God they will 
soon leave. 

Carelessness in respect to the outward life is another 
source of vacillation. Bramwell's advice was, "Reject 



LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 179 

everything in the present that would in the least draw 
you from the love of God." God desires that we glorify 
him in our lives. As never before, the soul when sancti- 
fied avoids the appearance of evil. He holds himself 
to the clean, Bible line, and makes no provision for the 
flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Self-denial is his rule 
of life, and very often the secret of unsteadiness may be 
traced to some self-indulgence that grieves the Holy Spirit. 
We should constantly remember that even a little inat- 
tention to the suggestions of the Holy Spirit will dull the 
edge of grace. When the soul is clean, it more readily 
discerns evil than before. The first heavy feeling should 
be heeded and the mistakes which occasions it rectified, 
or the conscience will lose its tenderness and then it is 
not very far to the bottom. 

A failure to press earnestly forward will deaden the 
soul. We must not think that because we are cleansed 
there is no more for us. The bread made this week is 
good, but it will mold next week ; so more must be made. 
When God especially blesses us there is danger of getting 
elated and stopping to glory in the blessing instead of 
pressing on to greater victories, and thus we lose the fresh- 
ness and sweetness the blessing was intended to impart. 
Bramwell says, "Never imagine that you have arrived at 
the summit. No ; see God in all things, and you will see 
no end." 

But the one great occasion of vacillation is a lack of 
prayer. It is needless to quote the many scriptures that 
exhort us to this blessed exercise. Let this one suffice: 
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the 
Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and 
supplication for all saints" (Eph. 6:18). 

"Prayer makes the darkened clouds withdraw, 
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw ; 
Gives exercise to faith and love ; 
Brings every blessing from above. 

"Restraining prayer we cease to fight ; 
Prayer keeps the Christian's armor bright ; 



180 LESSONS FOR SEEKERS OF HOLINESS 

And Satan trembles when he sees 
The weakest sairxt upon his knees." 

A great many persons go through mere forms of prayer, 
and then wonder why they do not reach soul victory ; but 

life of prayer in the Spirit is ever a victorious life. 

Other causes of vacillation might be mentioned, but 
the heart that will be true to God will discover the treach- 
erous wiles of the devil intended for his overthrow. He 
will also be quick to discern the gentle leadings of the Holy 
Spirit, drawing him to a life of deeper devotion and of 
holy yearning, and to an ever-deepening seif-abasement. 
As a consequence he will be filled more and more with the 
burning love of God. O Grace! where dost thou end? 
With cords of love thou dost draw our willing souls into 
thyself, renewing us evermore in the image of thy divine 
Author. Glory to God for this matchless fulness! 



MAY 11 1907 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnoloqies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 



1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



$>T7iy 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 651 025 5 



